is High@L5.1 CABAC / 6 Ref Frames out of the WDTV's specs?

Got a 1080p 1.85:1 file breaking up..

I can get the Mpeg2 TRP files to run on wd hd tv without any issues. But, I still can't get the MPEG4 trps to play.

After I converted the trp using tscutter, I am only getting the sound. I still can't get the video.

Thanks,


Google is your friend, took me 5 seconds to find this tutorial:

http://www.hdtvtotal.com/module-pagesetter-viewpub-tid-1-pid-1151.html

It's about converting a h.264 file in a .trp container to .ts, a container supported by the WD TV-HD. This should work.

is High@L5.1 CABAC / 6 Ref Frames out of the WDTV's specs?

Got a 1080p 1.85:1 file breaking up..

At 1920x1080, it is. 5 rf max. at 1920x1040-1080.

I can get the Mpeg2 TRP files to run on wd hd tv without any issues. But, I still can't get the MPEG4 trps to play.

After I converted the trp using tscutter, I am only getting the sound. I still can't get the video.

Thanks,

So the mpeg4 files in a .ts container don't work? Have you tried to convert to different containers like .mkv. or .m2ts?

At 1920x1080, it is. 5 rf max. at 1920x1040-1080.

Awesome, thanks bro :)

Okay, I got it to work. I renamed the files to .ts and used tsRemux to convert to m2ts. They play fine on WD HD TV now.

So the mpeg4 files in a .ts container don't work? Have you tried to convert to different containers like .mkv. or .m2ts?

Maybe it's just me, but if WD wants to sell their 1TB drives, the least they could have done was build in USB HUB support into this unit. Two USB ports just dosen't cut it. And yes, I know it actually can read a hub and then you can select which HDD you want, but this is a real PINA. I would have paid twice the price for this unit if I could daisy chain as many HUBs as I want and have the WDTV read them all and present everything to me at once. Like I said, if it was WDs intention to sell more passports, they blew it. Just my $.02 worth.

exactly what is the difference between daisy chaining and using a USB hub?? am i missing something?? with daisy chain, you dont need a hub, but in the end..it does the same thing?? and as far as I know.. daisy chain only works with firewire and e-sata?? I use daisy chain all the time with my WD Home edition drives using firewire... anyways, USB hubs work just fine on the WDTV..

HUB support only works in FOLDERS. And then you have to navigate to the Drive you want. Not very user friendly. So if you have say 3 or 4 HDDs, you can wind up searching around for what you want.

USB hubs work just fine with the WDTV, and if you have your drives arranged correctly, and media library turned on...you do not have a problem searching for a movie at all?? If you hook up 4 hard drives to a USB hub..(like i have) and select ALL VIDEOS.. it will take all videos from all 4 hard drives..and show them on 1 screen, all in alphabetical order!! so when I turn on my hub and drives with a push of a button....all 4 drives boot up, and I will have 700HD videos on one screen, all with MOVIE COVERS!! it doesnt get easier than that!! you can go folder to folder, drive to drive....but if you have your drives set up with ONLY your movies you want to watch.. (no junk vids,camera vids, or adult content) this works perfectly!! I have tested 5 drives at once, and all videos showed up on one screen! when i want to find a movie in a list of 700...i use the search feature...i simply put in the first 2 letters of the movie...and it will take me right near my movie, will only have to scroll 2-3 times...it is fast and painless!! just another feature that comes in handy...WHEN you USE the MEDIA LIBRARY!!! people complaining about using hubs because you have to dig thru folders...are people who refuse to take advantage of using media library! there is NO negative effects while using library... you only get added features and ease of use,boot up, etc... when you use this!!

unfortunately my library is 50/50 movies and serial TV shows. The WD TV media library treats shows/seasons/episodes all like movies - so, for example if I wanted all episodes of the X-files in media library view - it would show up as 197 separate 'movies'. Obviously on a folder with 10 or 12 serial tv shows...well..you're looking at scrolling through a LOT of video files.

For this reason alone I stick to folder view where at least I can take care of the nesting - Show / Season / Episode - to make navigation simple. Maybe they'll change this someday or simply allow me to rip to ISO with menu support (don't care about this at all for movies, but for TV it would be nice)

has anyone changed a .ts folder to the name of a movie and got the dvd menu to come up. i was just fooling around with the player and got it to do it but you can't select anything on the menu. i just thought it was weird

The WD Caviar Green is a 5400 RPM drive and my concern is whether it would fast enough for HD video. Would I be better off with a 7200 RPM model?

Of course it's fast enough, do the math. I'd always go with slower drives for media playback/storage too.

Really? Where are you from? Over here, the difference is about €10 between an external 1TB drive and an internal one.
Here enclosures are + €10 difference on 3.5" internal drives. Of course you can get twice the capacity for the same price when you compare 3.5" to 2.5" external drives.

From what I've read this may be due to aspect info the is stored in the IFO file, not in the VOBs.
That's incorrect, AR is stored in both files. However, some players seem to have problems when reading it from VOB only.

I DO have .ISOs that work fine, but I have aquired them from elsewhere, so need to check if these were actually re-authored...
There should be some info on the tool used if you check the file with PgcEdit.

has anyone changed a .ts folder to the name of a movie and got the dvd menu to come up. i was just fooling around with the player and got it to do it but you can't select anything on the menu. i just thought it was weird

Animated DVD menus are mpeg-2 video files, when you changed the folder name to something else than VIDEO_TS, you just told WDTV it is not a DVD video folder but rather an ordinary folder with a n umber of VOB AV files in it so it played all of them separately as plain video files, including the menu animation...no interaction is possible becuase navigation is not in the vob file but in teh ifo file which was ignored because it is not an AV file...

BTW, on DVD .IFO and VIDEO_TS playback, secondary subtitles stop being shown on the transitions between VOBs and need to be reselected...

Hi guys,

Probably my issue was already discussed here, but after searching i´ve not found a solution for my problem.

My WD TV is connected to my tv SONY BRAVIA KDL - 32E4000 via HDMI and from my tv goes a optical cable (toslink) to my home cinema receiver SONY DAV DZ260.The problem is that i get no sound in my receiver when i select the digital mode in the WD TV settings, only if i select in the WD TV settings "stereo" mode.

This happens with all dd audio (ac3 5.1) and DTS.My receiver does decode DTS.I´ve already search and there are guys who achieved getting ac3 over HDMI.

Can it be that my TV does not pass trough any digital sound?

I wanted to avoid connecting the WD TV directly to my receiver via optical cable because i just have one input that i´m already using for other equipments.
Thank you guys in advanced.

sorry, cactu, you will have to connect the optical directly to your AV rec, no DD or DTS is passed through HDMI, just PCM stereo downmix, WDTV is not HDMI 1.3 capable...in any case you will get 5.1 surround from WDTV ONLY if you connect it directly to your AV rec via optical toslink

sorry, cactu, you will have to connect the optical directly to your AV rec, no DD or DTS is passed through HDMI, just PCM stereo downmix, WDTV is not HDMI 1.3 capable...in any case you will get 5.1 surround from WDTV ONLY if you connect it directly to your AV rec via optical toslink

Ok.

Thanks.

My WD TV is connected to my tv SONY BRAVIA KDL - 32E4000 via HDMI and from my tv goes a optical cable (toslink) to my home cinema receiver SONY DAV DZ260.The problem is that i get no sound in my receiver when i select the digital mode in the WD TV settings, only if i select in the WD TV settings "stereo" mode.

This happens with all dd audio (ac3 5.1) and DTS.My receiver does decode DTS.I´ve already search and there are guys who achieved getting ac3 over HDMI.

Can it be that my TV does not pass trough any digital sound?


correct your TV does not pass thru the digital audio - connect the optical directly to your Sony - PS the WDTV does pass thru DTS and AC3 over HDMI.

sorry, cactu, you will have to connect the optical directly to your AV rec, no DD or DTS is passed through HDMI, just PCM stereo downmix, WDTV is not HDMI 1.3 capable

This is simply wrong. Of course the WD TV-HD will pass through (-> bitstream) Dolby Digital and DTS audio via HDMI. For that, a HDMI 1.3 port is not necessary. I actually have that kind of setup - one HDMI cable from the WD TV-HD to my receiver, and nothing more (my receiver's HDMI output is connected to the TV, of course).

What it will not do however is to pass through the new lossless audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. For those, a HDMI 1.3 port is a necessity indeed.

Hi guys,

Probably my issue was already discussed here, but after searching i´ve not found a solution for my problem.

My WD TV is connected to my tv SONY BRAVIA KDL - 32E4000 via HDMI and from my tv goes a optical cable (toslink) to my home cinema receiver SONY DAV DZ260.The problem is that i get no sound in my receiver when i select the digital mode in the WD TV settings, only if i select in the WD TV settings "stereo" mode.

This happens with all dd audio (ac3 5.1) and DTS.My receiver does decode DTS.I´ve already search and there are guys who achieved getting ac3 over HDMI.

Can it be that my TV does not pass trough any digital sound?

I wanted to avoid connecting the WD TV directly to my receiver via optical cable because i just have one input that i´m already using for other equipments.
Thank you guys in advanced.

Your problem is that your TV can not decode / handle Dolby Digital and DTS. You have connected your WD TV-HD to your TV via HDMI, and your TV to the receiver via optical out. But that is not the purpose of the optical out of your TV, it is meant for the output of TV audio (-> the sound of your TV) -> your TV is no receiver.

If your receiver has no HDMI inputs, you have to connect an optical cable to it indeed. One optical to the receiver, one HDMI cable to the TV.

OK, you got me there :D I do not have an HDMI AV rec so could not confirm my statement...I was under impression that HDMI DD/DTS TV passthrough worked before on cactu's setup, perhaps from a HDMI DVD player, but now it doesn't with WD TV because there was potentially no DD/DTS on its HDMI...

BUT let's get this straight: am I correct to say that WD TV passes DD/DTS via HDMI when set to "digital" but downmixes DD (not DTS) to 2-channel PCM when set to Analog?

BUT let's get this straight: am I correct to say that WD TV passes DD/DTS via HDMI when set to "digital" but downmixes DD (not DTS) to 2-channel PCM when set to Analog?

Yes, that is correct AFAIK (don't use the stereo output mode, just digital).

exactly what is the difference between daisy chaining and using a USB hub?? am i missing something?? with daisy chain, you dont need a hub, but in the end..it does the same thing?? and as far as I know.. daisy chain only works with firewire and e-sata?? I use daisy chain all the time with my WD Home edition drives using firewire... anyways, USB hubs work just fine on the WDTV..



USB hubs work just fine with the WDTV, and if you have your drives arranged correctly, and media library turned on...you do not have a problem searching for a movie at all?? If you hook up 4 hard drives to a USB hub..(like i have) and select ALL VIDEOS.. it will take all videos from all 4 hard drives..and show them on 1 screen, all in alphabetical order!! so when I turn on my hub and drives with a push of a button....all 4 drives boot up, and I will have 700HD videos on one screen, all with MOVIE COVERS!! it doesnt get easier than that!! you can go folder to folder, drive to drive....but if you have your drives set up with ONLY your movies you want to watch.. (no junk vids,camera vids, or adult content) this works perfectly!! I have tested 5 drives at once, and all videos showed up on one screen! when i want to find a movie in a list of 700...i use the search feature...i simply put in the first 2 letters of the movie...and it will take me right near my movie, will only have to scroll 2-3 times...it is fast and painless!! just another feature that comes in handy...WHEN you USE the MEDIA LIBRARY!!! people complaining about using hubs because you have to dig thru folders...are people who refuse to take advantage of using media library! there is NO negative effects while using library... you only get added features and ease of use,boot up, etc... when you use this!!
I'm not sure whay I can't get this to perform as you describe. I'm using a Belkin 2.0 7 Port powered HUB. I have 3 1TB HDD attached to it. From a clean start (i,e, "pin" factory rest on the WD box), deleted the .wd tv files on the HDDs, I fired up the unit. Then turned on each HDD. After the WD completed scanning, I went to the "Video All Video" view and can only see one HDD. If I want to see the rest, I need to go to the Folder view and select another one. My video files on my HDDs are set up in separate folders, each with just a .iso and a .jpg (same filename for both). If you can think of any reason I cannot see everything from the "Video All Vider" view, please let me know. I'd appreciate any assistance I can get. FYI, I'm on the latest FW (Beta) 1.02.03. Thanks again

Thank you guys.

Let see if I've understood it:

- The WD TV outputs DD and DTS (not hd) trough HDMI.
- My TV has a Digital output but uses it only for output the sound of the built-in DVB-t, for example.It will not output DD sound of the equipment attached to the HDMI input of the TV.
- as my receiver just has one optical input, in order to get DD sound I have to connect here the optical from the WD.

Is this right?

If this is right, than if i get a PS3 (or something with DD) i´m screwed with only optical input...

That is correct.

Has your receiver additional coaxial digital inputs (look like RCA jacks, usually a different colour than red or white)? If yes, you just need to buy an optical - coaxial converter, which should be pretty affordable.

Thank you guys.

Let see if I've understood it:

- The WD TV outputs DD and DTS (not hd) trough HDMI.
- My TV has a Digital output but uses it only for output the sound of the built-in DVB-t, for example.It will not output DD sound of the equipment attached to the HDMI input of the TV.
- as my receiver just has one optical input, in order to get DD sound I have to connect here the optical from the WD.

Is this right?

If this is right, than if i get a PS3 (or something with DD) i´m screwed with only optical input...

If your receiver has only one optical input and you need more, i.e., to connect multiple sources, then you could add a simple digital optical (toslink) switch ahead of your receiver. HERE (http://www.cablewholesale.com/specs/fiber-optic-switch/40ts-13000.htm) is an example of a very low cost one with 3 optical inputs and one optical output.

That's incorrect, AR is stored in both files. However, some players seem to have problems when reading it from VOB only.
Perhaps I phrased my statement incorrectly, or perhaps my information is wrong, but I meant to say that aspect ratio info was in both IFO and the VOB files, but that the two might not agree. The result could be incorrect AR in a solo VOB file, when the correct AR had only been encoded in the IFO file.

Again, my information is second hand and could easily be wrong. Or, perhaps you are saying that the VOB probably has the correct information but is being read incorrectly. If the latter is the case, that sounds like a bug that should be corrected.

Let me just start off saying I LOVE my WD TV! :)

The only problem I am having is a couple of the .MKV files with the audio. Every 10 seconds or there is a gap in the audio. Seems to be more frequent if the movie has more action/sound. I have the WD hooked with HDMI 1.3 to my TV and an optical to my reciever. 90% of everything I play works perfectly.
Thanks for any help

Let me just start off saying I LOVE my WD TV! :)

The only problem I am having is a couple of the .MKV files with the audio. Every 10 seconds or there is a gap in the audio. Seems to be more frequent if the movie has more action/sound. I have the WD hooked with HDMI 1.3 to my TV and an optical to my reciever. 90% of everything I play works perfectly.
Thanks for any help

Check out the 1.02.03 beta thread. This is a known bug. It was improved considerably with the latest beta (1.02.03), but still exists unfortunately.

This is a little off-topic, but I have a question for you external hard drive dock users, e.g. Thermaltake Blacx, Vantec NexStar, etc.

Do you feel that the "passive" cooling (no fan, just open to the air) is enough cooling for your hard drives? I bought a Blacx and a Western Digitial Caviar Black 1TB to use with my WDTV, and I'm concerned with how hot the drive gets when in use. It doesn't quite get hot enough to the touch to burn, but it is very warm. I measured with a digital thermometer and it was at about 110-120F.

Actually I'm more concerned about using one with my desktop computer, as I can turn off the one attached to the WDTV when I'm not using it, but the one attached to my PC I would want to leave on all the time.

I'd be interested in hearing your comments on this solution.

And again, my apologies to you others if this is off-topic. :D

Baercat

If this is the device you are talking about (-> hard drive 'in the open')...

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1642

...you don't need to worry, unless you live in a sauna or something. Hard drives are supposed to get warm, and those temperatures are not critical.

Let me just start off saying I LOVE my WD TV! :)

The only problem I am having is a couple of the .MKV files with the audio. Every 10 seconds or there is a gap in the audio. Seems to be more frequent if the movie has more action/sound. I have the WD hooked with HDMI 1.3 to my TV and an optical to my reciever. 90% of everything I play works perfectly.
Thanks for any help

Check out the 1.02.03 beta thread. This is a known bug. It was improved considerably with the latest beta (1.02.03), but still exists unfortunately.

Thanks for the quick reply! I was hesitant with installing 1.02.03 b/c of all the problems people were having with 1.02.02 (or w/e the 1st prerelease was). I was afraid with messing with the firmware if something is wrong I don't want to have to mess around with going back to 1.01

The 1.02.03 beta firmware is the best firmware WD has released for this little box so far, despite the beta status. Definitely worth a try.

P.S.: It really is no hassle to downgrade the firmware. All it takes is notepad and typing a few numbers.

Looks like 1.02.04 is out now. I guess the guys at WD are in full throttle now!!

This is a little off-topic, but I have a question for you external hard drive dock users, e.g. Thermaltake Blacx, Vantec NexStar, etc.

Do you feel that the "passive" cooling (no fan, just open to the air) is enough cooling for your hard drives? I bought a Blacx and a Western Digitial Caviar Black 1TB to use with my WDTV, and I'm concerned with how hot the drive gets when in use. It doesn't quite get hot enough to the touch to burn, but it is very warm. I measured with a digital thermometer and it was at about 110-120F.

Actually I'm more concerned about using one with my desktop computer, as I can turn off the one attached to the WDTV when I'm not using it, but the one attached to my PC I would want to leave on all the time.

I'd be interested in hearing your comments on this solution.

And again, my apologies to you others if this is off-topic. :D

Baercat

I've been a BlacX user for several years now and use this with my WDTV. Before I got my WDTV I used it to quickly back up and retrieve HD home video footage. After buying 3 external drive enclosures and needing more, I said screw it and got the BlacX. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Being able to pop hard drives in and out and from my WDTV to my pc is the main reason I didn't need networking support.

The temps are fine. I actually prefer the no fan, totally exposed hard drive vs an enclosed hard drive with active cooling. Hard drives get hot. Even on your internal pc drives, imagine how hot they get inside an enclosed case, even if you have fans running across them.

I've kept the BlacX drives connected to my computer on for at least 24 hours at a time. I do try to turn them off when not in use tho. I personally wouldn't want to leave it on all the time and I probably couldn't since I only have 1 BlacX and about 10 drives to swap around.

Here I am again trying to put some order in the chaos. :-)

Let's work together to put some structure in the WDTV discussion on this Forum:

-> bugs, findings and comments SPECIFIC to beta firmware 1.02.04-> separate thread: WD HD TV -1.02.04 Prerelease (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1138480)

-> end-user questions (how to...) and discussion about the WDTV in general -> *New* Western Digital - WD TV HD Media Player (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1080840) (you're in now)

-> long term feature requests and discussion about missing features (anything not announced in the 1.02 release notes) -> thread BUG LIST & FEATURE REQUEST thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1100499)

Thanks... from everyone ;)

Looks like 1.02.04 is out now. I guess the guys at WD are in full throttle now!!

Link?

Link?
http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/

exactly what is the difference between daisy chaining and using a USB hub?? am i missing something?? with daisy chain, you dont need a hub, but in the end..it does the same thing?? and as far as I know.. daisy chain only works with firewire and e-sata?? I use daisy chain all the time with my WD Home edition drives using firewire... anyways, USB hubs work just fine on the WDTV..



USB hubs work just fine with the WDTV, and if you have your drives arranged correctly, and media library turned on...you do not have a problem searching for a movie at all?? If you hook up 4 hard drives to a USB hub..(like i have) and select ALL VIDEOS.. it will take all videos from all 4 hard drives..and show them on 1 screen, all in alphabetical order!! so when I turn on my hub and drives with a push of a button....all 4 drives boot up, and I will have 700HD videos on one screen, all with MOVIE COVERS!! it doesnt get easier than that!! you can go folder to folder, drive to drive....but if you have your drives set up with ONLY your movies you want to watch.. (no junk vids,camera vids, or adult content) this works perfectly!! I have tested 5 drives at once, and all videos showed up on one screen! when i want to find a movie in a list of 700...i use the search feature...i simply put in the first 2 letters of the movie...and it will take me right near my movie, will only have to scroll 2-3 times...it is fast and painless!! just another feature that comes in handy...WHEN you USE the MEDIA LIBRARY!!! people complaining about using hubs because you have to dig thru folders...are people who refuse to take advantage of using media library! there is NO negative effects while using library... you only get added features and ease of use,boot up, etc... when you use this!!
What brand Hub are you using?
What type of video files do you have (i.e. .iso, .vob, etc).
What type of HDDs are you using?
Any special HDD configurations as far as permissions or sharing?
Thanks.

Hi,

Has anyone here tried to play .dvr-ms (MS Media Center file format)?

I used the media center on my PC as a DVR and it works fine with my PS3 but for WDTV, it only works for the first 10 seconds or so and then the video becomes a slow motion video with no sound.

Any experience/tips to share on dvr-ms files?

Thanks.
Max

Are there any known ways to create iso-images on a Mac from DVDs that are readable by WD TV?

I've made several (about ten?) attempts today to make an .iso that will play back, but I only get an error message that this format is not supported.

Any ideas?

I'm using Leopard (10.5.6).

Are there any known ways to create iso-images on a Mac from DVDs that are readable by WD TV?

I've made several (about ten?) attempts today to make an .iso that will play back, but I only get an error message that this format is not supported.

Any ideas?

I'm using Leopard (10.5.6).
I rip my dvd's with RipIt in Image mode and change the .img extension to .iso and they work perfectly. If you have Toast you can also save an image of your file with .toast extension and change it to .iso and they also work. I do this every day. Hope this helps.
P.S. I also am at OSX 10.5.6 on a 2008 24" 2.4 GHZ iMac.

Has anyone successfully attached HDDs via an attached USB HUB to the WDTV and have the WDTV present ALL of your videos from the "Video All" view (not the video folders view). Each of my video folders on my HDDs has a single .iso and a .jpg. Someone previously posted that this was possible but did not provide any specific details. Seriously, if I can't attach as many HDDs as I want to the WDTV and have it present everything back to me in a single main view, then this box has some serious limitations. Thanks.

I rip my dvd's with RipIt in Image mode and change the .img extension to .iso and they work perfectly. If you have Toast you can also save an image of your file with .toast extension and change it to .iso and they also work. I do this every day. Hope this helps.
P.S. I also am at OSX 10.5.6 on a 2008 24" 2.4 GHZ iMac.

Just put an image file of a ripped DVD into Toast, then saved it as "(name).toast".

Renamed to "(name).iso". This file plays fine in VLC.

However, put the file on a memory stick, loaded it into WD TV (with latest pre-release firmware). When I press play I once again get the "Unable to play this file" etc. etc.

So the Toast .iso solution is not working. Will try RipIt tomorrow.

Has anyone successfully attached HDDs via an attached USB HUB to the WDTV and have the WDTV present ALL of your videos from the "Video All" view (not the video folders view). Each of my video folders on my HDDs has a single .iso and a .jpg. Someone previously posted that this was possible but did not provide any specific details. Seriously, if I can't attach as many HDDs as I want to the WDTV and have it present everything back to me in a single main view, then this box has some serious limitations. Thanks.

A search for USB HUB in this thread and I got 73 hits.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/search.php?searchid=12852784

Which led to this:

http://wdtv.wetpaint.com/page/System+issues?t=anon

Can I use a USB hub to attach more external devices?
Yes, but it's not officially supported. While there is no word about this on the WD website or support site, the manual does say twice that use of USB hubs is not supported. However, several users have reported (posts 1, 2, 3, 4) using an powered USB hub successfully. Also at least one user reported (post 1) using a bus-powered hub. Your different hard drives then show as subfolders of the USB1 or USB2 root node in the folder navigation. Also, the media library aggregation functions (e.g. show all videos) work across all drives on the hub (post 1). It's been reported (post 1) also that the eject procedure when using a hub is a bit more complex, needing to "eject" the hub as many times as there are disks attached to it. Also, users of the unofficial firmwares have reported using USB hubs when they attach network interfaces (USB connectors to LAN or WLAN).


Make sure you're using a powered hub. And search is gud.

A search for USB HUB in this thread and I got 73 hits.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/search.php?searchid=12852784

Which led to this:

http://wdtv.wetpaint.com/page/System+issues?t=anon



Make sure you're using a powered hub. And search is gud.
I don't want to have to go to the folders and select each HDD separately. But that's the only option with this unit. We should be able to attach as many HDDs via a hub and have a single main view of everything. In other words, gather info from HDD1, HDD2, HDD3, HDD4, etc and present them to me sorted and all together. I wish.

I don't want to have to go to the folders and select each HDD separately. But that's the only option with this unit. We should be able to attach as many HDDs via a hub and have a single main view of everything. In other words, gather info from HDD1, HDD2, HDD3, HDD4, etc and present them to me sorted and all together. I wish.

It should do that. Couple questions:

Powered hub?

Media Library on?

You can access all 4 drives in Folder View but it doesn't propagate all your files in All Video?

Hi,

Has anyone here tried to play .dvr-ms (MS Media Center file format)?

I used the media center on my PC as a DVR and it works fine with my PS3 but for WDTV, it only works for the first 10 seconds or so and then the video becomes a slow motion video with no sound.

Any experience/tips to share on dvr-ms files?

Thanks.
Max

I was recording HD in the dvr-ms format with GBPVR and it worked ok for me. The original WDTV firmware wouldn't FF or RW, but the newer firmware (1.01.01) seems ok, although it isn't very close where it would stop from the FF or RW mode.

This is simply wrong. Of course the WD TV-HD will pass through (-> bitstream) Dolby Digital and DTS audio via HDMI. For that, a HDMI 1.3 port is not necessary. I actually have that kind of setup - one HDMI cable from the WD TV-HD to my receiver, and nothing more (my receiver's HDMI output is connected to the TV, of course).

What it will not do however is to pass through the new lossless audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. For those, a HDMI 1.3 port is a necessity indeed.

...I'm glad there's some fresh discussion here on this again. I totally understand all that is being said here but it's what's NOT being said that is still uncertain to me....I would like to know clearly what happens if you are running toslink to your AV receiver and the file being played does not have DD/DTS...does it pass analog audio through to receiver on toslink automatically ? (while set to digital)...if not, will it pass the audio through if you manually change WDTV setting back to "stereo" ...or will it suppress the toslink output if you do that ? ...does it output the 2ch RCA audio simultaneously ...in which case maybe my AV receiver could auto-detect in instances where nothing comes through on toslink and switch over to the RCA if I connect both.

sorry if it's been beaten to death, just can't get clear indication on any search hits...I could answer instantly if I was all set up, but I'm just not able to do so at present.

thx for your comments...moo

What brand Hub are you using?
What type of video files do you have (i.e. .iso, .vob, etc).
What type of HDDs are you using?
Any special HDD configurations as far as permissions or sharing?
Thanks.

first off...i just tested my hub with 4 HDD hooked up to it...and the view all videos DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE:( now, it only shows the video of the last folder(hard drive) that you browsed... this did work with the orginal 1.0.2 firmware! but with the new firmware betas, seems like that feature was lost:(

WHen using a powered USB hub, it is recommended that you use the SIDE usb port... it seems to work much better with this port than the back one..


...I'm glad there's some fresh discussion here on this again. I totally understand all that is being said here but it's what's NOT being said that is still uncertain to me....I would like to know clearly what happens if you are running toslink to your AV receiver and the file being played does not have DD/DTS...does it pass analog audio through to receiver on toslink automatically ? (while set to digital)...if not, will it pass the audio through if you manually change WDTV setting back to "stereo" ...or will it suppress the toslink output if you do that ? ...does it output the 2ch RCA audio simultaneously ...in which case maybe my AV receiver could auto-detect in instances where nothing comes through on toslink and switch over to the RCA if I connect both.

sorry if it's been beaten to death, just can't get clear indication on any search hits...I could answer instantly if I was all set up, but I'm just not able to do so at present.

thx for your comments...moo

Audio DOES come out ALL audio ports all all times.. I have tried this with HDMI audio to my TV, and toslink to my receiver... however, I have written about audio on this thread a thousand times! here is a quick breakdown on audio...AGAIN;)

AAC, AC3,MP3 and other supported audio- STEREO MODE- ALL AUDIO is DOWNMIXED to 2 channel audio... audio is output in STEREO MODE thru RCA, Toslink and HDMI:)

AC3 and DTS- DIGITAL MODE- if audio is 6 channel, then it will be output in 6 channel... when a DTS file is played, it DOES NOT matter which mode you are in... WDTV will AUTOMATICALLY switch to digital.... audio is output in digital mode thru HDMI and TOSLINK.
*AAC 6 channel audio DOES NOT work in digital mode...you must switch to stereo output, and the 6 channel audio will be output as 2 channel stereo.. this is one feature that i hope is added with new firmware..





Finally.... new beta 1.02.04 has some significant improvements in audio/video playback! i had 3 movies that are 1080p with 6 channel AC3....and the audio has always played back with some problems...cutting in and out every few minutes.. i had not got around to trying to fix them or convert them.. U just played the 3 movies that have choppy audio with new beta firmware... and they played PERFECTLY!!!

another problem that WDTV has had in the past is....playing audio in an MKV container where there are several digital or DTS audio streams... usually the only way to fix this was my using TSmuxer and removing the the other audio streams... I had a movie that had DTS-Master as primary, Spanish DTS as secondary stream..and English DTS as 3rd stream... of course HD audio was unsupported...when i went to english DTS, it would playback choppy...going in and out... NOT ANYMORE!! i just played this movie, and selected the audio i wanted, even though it was the 3rd stream...and it played without a single hitch!! Didnt try 1080p 24...not worried about that right now... but overall audio playback is SOLID!! I dont have a single movie out of 600+ that doesnt work!LOL i just has these handful...and they are now fixed! Video playback looks sharper and smoother than ever!!! They are getting close to a GREAT final firmware release!!


** I am never one to complain......but...... WD definately needs to allow us the choice to turn AUTO SUBS on or off... people complained about wanting auto subs on...now they are there...but i dont think it is fair for all of us who dont need subs to have to turn them off EVERY single time a movie is started! A simple solution would be a feature that allows us to choose for oursleves:)

The wd green hard drives are quiet and cooler

I bought a Blacx and a Western Digitial Caviar Black 1TB to use with my WDTV, and I'm concerned with how hot the drive gets when in use. It doesn't quite get hot enough to the touch to burn, but it is very warm.
Baercat

Hello everyone. I just bought the WD TV player and i got to say i love it so much. New pre- release firmware is aswome.

I just wanted to ask you guys what is the best position for the wd tv? Standing up or sit down. I ask this because i put my player siting down and it gets kind of hot. So i was wondering if it's okay to make it standing position so more air well hit it. Is that okay for the player?

Thanks..

Hello everyone. I just bought the WD TV player and i got to say i love it so much. New pre- release firmware is aswome.

I just wanted to ask you guys what is the best position for the wd tv? Standing up or sit down. I ask this because i put my player siting down and it gets kind of hot. So i was wondering if it's okay to make it standing position so more air well hit it. Is that okay for the player?

Thanks..

Use it laying flat, I used it once standing upright and within seconds it ended up on the floor...it's too light to resist accidental bumps, it topples more than easily...:mad:

Hi there.

Just bought one and very happy with it (v1.01.02 for now). Just one question:

I have some thirty movies on the drive. I prefer a list-view as opposed to thumbnails. I can scroll through the list one at a time. Is there a way to "Page down" or "Page up" through the list?

TIA

Keep up or down arrow pressed and it will storm through the list...literally! :D

Hi,
I already tried to convert 2 blu-ray iso's into mkv with similar problems.
The reason for conversion is, that my WD-TV plays the iso, but stutters in sound and image. And I can't choose subtitles
I use MakeMKV to convert the iso's.
Here's the problem after conversion, the mkv file has no audio.
When I try to play the file with VLC-player it says UDF Audio/video not supported.
Any better programs to convert a iso, with more options, like changing the audio problem?

I've recently bought the WDTV, and was wondering if someone could help me out.

On the back of the box it says it supports OGG audio, but all my ogg audio files show up as unsupported. Am I doing something wrong, and is this happening to anyone else??

Hi there.

Just bought one and very happy with it (v1.01.02 for now). Just one question:

I have some thirty movies on the drive. I prefer a list-view as opposed to thumbnails. I can scroll through the list one at a time. Is there a way to "Page down" or "Page up" through the list?

TIA

I found this out by chance (pressing the wrong button with my thick fingers :D ): you can use the skip/next buttons to browse through the list view.

I found this out by chance (pressing the wrong button with my thick fingers :D ): you can use the skip/next buttons to browse through the list view.

whoa, it really does do that, skip pages at the press of prev/next buttons...:D

I've recently bought the WDTV, and was wondering if someone could help me out.

On the back of the box it says it supports OGG audio, but all my ogg audio files show up as unsupported. Am I doing something wrong, and is this happening to anyone else??

are the ogg files within a matroska (mkv) container?

Hi,

I saw some ppl are using wd hd to see big bd rips meaning they have just ripped the movie and removed all the extra stuff. Do you still have to convert it somehow so wd hd can play it? Or what would be simplest bd rip method if I don't care the rips are big. I don't want to spend time converting it to mkv.

Hi,

I saw some ppl are using wd hd to see big bd rips meaning they have just ripped the movie and removed all the extra stuff. Do you still have to convert it somehow so wd hd can play it? Or what would be simplest bd rip method if I don't care the rips are big. I don't want to spend time converting it to mkv.

If you just want to rip the movie, convert the audio to AC3 (if necessary) or extract DTS core and remux then you need 3 programs.

1. AnyDVD HD
2. Eac3to
3. TsMuxer (mux as M2TS)

Straight from disc it takes me about 90 mins all in. Most of this is the slow reading from disc, CPU is hardly under any load.

I've done a number of HD DVD and Blu-rays using this method, with just about all combinations of video (VC1/AVC/MPEG2) codec and audio (AC3/E-AC3/TrueHD/DTS/DTS-HD) and they all play fine.

If you want subs this can be done as can chapters (in a MKV), but I don't see then point (for me).

There are some GUI's such as ClownBD which can help with this process, but it's very simple to do from the command line and to be honest I find this easier.

Ok. Thx. What's the reading speed of your BD drive? Is it 90 mins with 6x drives?

Just bought one and very happy with it (v1.01.02 for now). Just one question:

I have some thirty movies on the drive. I prefer a list-view as opposed to thumbnails. I can scroll through the list one at a time. Is there a way to "Page down" or "Page up" through the list?

as people said: keep up/down pressed, and scrolling will speed up.

new in the 1.02.xx (currently beta or "pre-release") additionally the next/prev buttons work to advance an entire page

Ok. Thx. What's the reading speed of your BD drive? Is it 90 mins with 6x drives?

It's only 2x for BD

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158605

For HD DVD I'm using a Xbox360 drive

It should do that. Couple questions:

Powered hub?

Media Library on?

You can access all 4 drives in Folder View but it doesn't propagate all your files in All Video?
I have a Belkin powered 7 port hub.
Media Library is on.
I can access all 4 drives in Folder View but it doesn't propagate my files in All Video?
My HDDs are 1TB each (Verbatim).
All .iso video with appropriately name .jpg in each folder on my HDD. (i.e. Walle.iso and Walle.jpg).

I'm thinking maybe it's a 1TB issue that WDTV can't handle. Since I don't have anything smaller, can't validate this assumption.

At any rate, the first company who comes out with a black box that does everything and does it well, wil corner the market (and there is a very large market for this type of unit).

If you build a better mouse trap, they will buy it.

Not quite true.

If you build a better mousetrap
AND
its sufficiently better
AND
people WANT a better one
AND
The price is tolerable

THEN they will buy it :-) so far the WDTV does all of this but because of our screwed up system it has one more hurdle to cross.

Your a crook if you use one. Yeah that sucks technically ripping your OWN STUFF is illegal. It also requires some level of skill and knowledge.

which will cause the WDTV to sadly remain a very niche product. I just hope it gets popular enough that WD keeps making them and keeps updating it.

first off...i just tested my hub with 4 HDD hooked up to it...and the view all videos DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE:( now, it only shows the video of the last folder(hard drive) that you browsed... this did work with the orginal 1.0.2 firmware! but with the new firmware betas, seems like that feature was lost:(

WHen using a powered USB hub, it is recommended that you use the SIDE usb port... it seems to work much better with this port than the back one..




Audio DOES come out ALL audio ports all all times.. I have tried this with HDMI audio to my TV, and toslink to my receiver... however, I have written about audio on this thread a thousand times! here is a quick breakdown on audio...AGAIN;)

AAC, AC3,MP3 and other supported audio- STEREO MODE- ALL AUDIO is DOWNMIXED to 2 channel audio... audio is output in STEREO MODE thru RCA, Toslink and HDMI:)

AC3 and DTS- DIGITAL MODE- if audio is 6 channel, then it will be output in 6 channel... when a DTS file is played, it DOES NOT matter which mode you are in... WDTV will AUTOMATICALLY switch to digital.... audio is output in digital mode thru HDMI and TOSLINK.
*AAC 6 channel audio DOES NOT work in digital mode...you must switch to stereo output, and the 6 channel audio will be output as 2 channel stereo.. this is one feature that i hope is added with new firmware..





Finally.... new beta 1.02.04 has some significant improvements in audio/video playback! i had 3 movies that are 1080p with 6 channel AC3....and the audio has always played back with some problems...cutting in and out every few minutes.. i had not got around to trying to fix them or convert them.. U just played the 3 movies that have choppy audio with new beta firmware... and they played PERFECTLY!!!

another problem that WDTV has had in the past is....playing audio in an MKV container where there are several digital or DTS audio streams... usually the only way to fix this was my using TSmuxer and removing the the other audio streams... I had a movie that had DTS-Master as primary, Spanish DTS as secondary stream..and English DTS as 3rd stream... of course HD audio was unsupported...when i went to english DTS, it would playback choppy...going in and out... NOT ANYMORE!! i just played this movie, and selected the audio i wanted, even though it was the 3rd stream...and it played without a single hitch!! Didnt try 1080p 24...not worried about that right now... but overall audio playback is SOLID!! I dont have a single movie out of 600+ that doesnt work!LOL i just has these handful...and they are now fixed! Video playback looks sharper and smoother than ever!!! They are getting close to a GREAT final firmware release!!


** I am never one to complain......but...... WD definately needs to allow us the choice to turn AUTO SUBS on or off... people complained about wanting auto subs on...now they are there...but i dont think it is fair for all of us who dont need subs to have to turn them off EVERY single time a movie is started! A simple solution would be a feature that allows us to choose for oursleves:)
Thanks Dan. I thought I was missing a screw somewhere. So the latest FW took away the capability to view all video from the All Videos view. Looks like WDTV giveth, and WDTV taketh away. ScottWD, if you are monitoring this, please ADD to new FW releases and don't SUBTRACT. Since I am a member of the FW of the Week Club, hopefully this previous functionality will be put back in. Pretty please?

Not quite true.

If you build a better mousetrap
AND
its sufficiently better
AND
people WANT a better one
AND
The price is tolerable

THEN they will buy it :-) so far the WDTV does all of this but because of our screwed up system it has one more hurdle to cross.

Your a crook if you use one. Yeah that sucks technically ripping your OWN STUFF is illegal. It also requires some level of skill and knowledge.

which will cause the WDTV to sadly remain a very niche product. I just hope it gets popular enough that WD keeps making them and keeps updating it.
I have three small children. Ever watch the way kids handle DVD's??? It's not a pretty site. I only indend to buy a DVD once. As far as I'm concerned, once I buy it, it's mine and I can do whatever I want, which includes making a backup for personal use. Technically sure, it's illegal, but I think everyone outside of LA would very much like that bogus law to change. It's not illegal to RIP a CD, right? Why should DVD's be any different? I'm not doing anything other than protecting my investments.

My limited understanding of fair-use and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is that the digital conversion of a CD or DVD for use on another device is protected under fair-use doctrine, but circumvention of copy-protection is not. Therefore, cracking a copy-protected CD would be illegal.

My limited understanding of fair-use and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is that the digital conversion of a CD or DVD for use on another device is protected under fair-use doctrine, but circumvention of copy-protection is not. Therefore, cracking a copy-protected CD would be illegal.
So as far as you are concerned, it's purely a legal issue and not a philosophical one?
Ever drive 60 mph in a 55 mph zone?
I'll admit I have.

My limited understanding of fair-use and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is that the digital conversion of a CD or DVD for use on another device is protected under fair-use doctrine, but circumvention of copy-protection is not. Therefore, cracking a copy-protected CD would be illegal.

Not in Spain (and Portugal, i believe)!

Audio DOES come out ALL audio ports all all times.. I have tried this with HDMI audio to my TV, and toslink to my receiver... however, I have written about audio on this thread a thousand times! here is a quick breakdown on audio...AGAIN;)

AAC, AC3,MP3 and other supported audio- STEREO MODE- ALL AUDIO is DOWNMIXED to 2 channel audio... audio is output in STEREO MODE thru RCA, Toslink and HDMI:)

AC3 and DTS- DIGITAL MODE- if audio is 6 channel, then it will be output in 6 channel... when a DTS file is played, it DOES NOT matter which mode you are in... WDTV will AUTOMATICALLY switch to digital.... audio is output in digital mode thru HDMI and TOSLINK.
*AAC 6 channel audio DOES NOT work in digital mode...you must switch to stereo output, and the 6 channel audio will be output as 2 channel stereo.. this is one feature that i hope is added with new firmware..


thanks for taking the time (again)...I guess I chose my search keywords poorly as I do now see MANY earlier explanations.

If I read between the lines here re AAC audio, can I interpret this to mean that if I want to avoid manually changing the output setting in the WDTV all the time, that I would connect both toslink and RCA to my AV receiver and then have my receiver auto-detect ?? (assuming that there is no signal present when WDTV is set to digital)

I agree "it would be nice" if WD made some provision for a downconverting option for it (since few if any of us likely have AAC decoding in any of our AV equip)...obviously it is able to do it...I'm not sure how it would best be implemented though. (hopefully the RCA will handle it for me)

I do see some AV receivers out there though with AAC decoding...is the 6ch decoding for AAC another matter altogether ?

I agree "it would be nice" if WD made some provision for a downconverting option for it (since few if any of us likely have AAC decoding in any of our AV equip)...obviously it is able to do it...I'm not sure how it would best be implemented though. (hopefully the RCA will handle it for me)


haven't seen or used one but I believe the PCH has menu with separate options for each of the supported multi-ch audio formats so you can select pcm or digital individually for each type....that would do it !!

Not in Spain (and Portugal, i believe)!
Spain and Czech Republic are the two remaining countries who have not adopted the EU Copyright Directive, which is essentially equivalent to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. It's probably only a matter of time.

So as far as you are concerned, it's purely a legal issue and not a philosophical one?
Ever drive 60 mph in a 55 mph zone?
I'll admit I have.
Well, I think the Digital Millennium Copyright act was a violation of fair-use doctrine and should be abolished from a legal and philosophical standpoint. Unfortunately, my beliefs don't influence law. I've certainly received a ticket for going over 55 when I thought it was perfectly safe to be driving faster but the signs didn't agree.:o

I've been a BlacX user for several years now and use this with my WDTV. Before I got my WDTV I used it to quickly back up and retrieve HD home video footage. After buying 3 external drive enclosures and needing more, I said screw it and got the BlacX. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Being able to pop hard drives in and out and from my WDTV to my pc is the main reason I didn't need networking support.

The temps are fine. I actually prefer the no fan, totally exposed hard drive vs an enclosed hard drive with active cooling. Hard drives get hot. Even on your internal pc drives, imagine how hot they get inside an enclosed case, even if you have fans running across them.

I've kept the BlacX drives connected to my computer on for at least 24 hours at a time. I do try to turn them off when not in use tho. I personally wouldn't want to leave it on all the time and I probably couldn't since I only have 1 BlacX and about 10 drives to swap around.

Thanks Bobo, and thanks too to high_definitely for your responses. I was basically seeking confirmation that my decision was sound, and you provided that.

Saintsaints, thanks also for your suggestion to try the WD Caviar Green hard drive. When I'm ready to buy another hard drive for backups, I'll look into that.

Baercat

are the ogg files within a matroska (mkv) container?

Yes they are.

I am a bit anal about speeding. I just don't see the point. I did the math its SECONDS it will save you unless your doing some serious long distance driving.

BUT there are a few roads where I go faster than posted only because it would be suicide to go the posted limit. Do 50-55 on I95 and your dead. I push it to 60 and won't go faster. If someone wants to eat the back of my 7000 pound van they can have at it :-)

I ignore the DMCA because I consider it to be both morally and legally unlawful and unconstitutional (its theft of personal property rights)

HOW do you guys get these things to play DVD rips. I thought if I "ripped" a dvd in its VIDEO_TS folder that it would show up as a "single" film but I am still having it come up as TWO video files (vob 1 and vob 2)

I am going to try an "iso" but this is not the preferred method for me since it doubles the amount of time it takes to get the DVD onto the flash drive. I would have to RIP it to the hard disk first and then "burn" the images to the flash drive as an ISO.

without iso I can rip the directly to the flash drive saving 10-20 minutes of time.

also folder.jpg does not appear to work inside root of stick OR inside the video ts folder. I actually don't need images for this particular function but I figured I would test it and see how it looks :-)

"I have three small children. Ever watch the way kids handle DVD's??? It's not a pretty site. I only indend to buy a DVD once. As far as I'm concerned, once I buy it, it's mine and I can do whatever I want, which includes making a backup for personal use. Technically sure, it's illegal, but I think everyone outside of LA would very much like that bogus law to change. It's not illegal to RIP a CD, right? Why should DVD's be any different? I'm not doing anything other than protecting my investments."

HEY I agree with you man :-)

You asked the wrong question why should i be any different. the right question is why IS it any different.

well thats because of the DMCA. The DMCA does not say you can not rip your dvd. it says you can not DEFEAT copy protection or encryption.

so yes go ahead rip your dvd as long as you can do it without breaking the encryption which off course is impossible since 99% of them are protected.

IE they did a legal end run around the law. Instead of attacking "fair use" which they knew they would FAIL at they worked AROUND IT by making "something else" illegal and then applying that something else to EVERYTHING else they sell.

WHY do you think they are suddenly gung ho for digital distribution now?

why CD ? well the CD spec does not permit "encryption or copy protection" so they need a NEW medium that they CAN encrypt and once again end run around your fair use rights via encryption and the DMCA.

Its a very evil law that should not exist.

while the DMCA does not affect you and me directly NO JUDGE WOULD EVER convict one of us for ripping OUR OWN movies. NO JUDGE.

but it PREVENTS consumer products from being developed that CAN assist us.

WD is going to get some grief for making this product but its also why they CAN NOT assist via software in getting material ONTO the player. its also probably why it has NO internal storage of its own (at least partially why)

it removes liability from WD. but it creates WORK for us end users limiting it to more advanced end users IE a niche product.

I prefer it this way. I don't like proprietary restrictive interfaces. I like nice and open and wide file support. Conversion of files sucks. anyone who says otherwise is a moron. it sucks because it takes time lots of time :-)

the WD has massive support for variety and it sounds like it will only get better.

here is hoping they can survive as a niche product and keep the MPAA and RIAA jackals off there backs.

also it LOOKS like it "remembers" that you set something to "repeat" I noticed in video settings it now says repeat all. I had it unplugged for over a day so it REMEMBERED that I had set it this way. this is going to make it a lot easier to use until I get a custom firmware going. its still a pain to get going since I have to see a SCREEN to get it going ie no easy way to do it blind but thats ok. the machine is so wonderful I don't mind dealing with that till I get a custom firmware going.

Keep up the good work WD. Keep things civil fellow critters and enjoy the goodness of technology :-) hehe

"I have three small children. Ever watch the way kids handle DVD's??? It's not a pretty site. I only indend to buy a DVD once. As far as I'm concerned, once I buy it, it's mine and I can do whatever I want, which includes making a backup for personal use. Technically sure, it's illegal, but I think everyone outside of LA would very much like that bogus law to change. It's not illegal to RIP a CD, right? Why should DVD's be any different? I'm not doing anything other than protecting my investments."

HEY I agree with you man :-)

You asked the wrong question why should i be any different. the right question is why IS it any different.

well thats because of the DMCA. The DMCA does not say you can not rip your dvd. it says you can not DEFEAT copy protection or encryption.

so yes go ahead rip your dvd as long as you can do it without breaking the encryption which off course is impossible since 99% of them are protected.

IE they did a legal end run around the law. Instead of attacking "fair use" which they knew they would FAIL at they worked AROUND IT by making "something else" illegal and then applying that something else to EVERYTHING else they sell.

WHY do you think they are suddenly gung ho for digital distribution now?

why CD ? well the CD spec does not permit "encryption or copy protection" so they need a NEW medium that they CAN encrypt and once again end run around your fair use rights via encryption and the DMCA.

Its a very evil law that should not exist.

while the DMCA does not affect you and me directly NO JUDGE WOULD EVER convict one of us for ripping OUR OWN movies. NO JUDGE.

but it PREVENTS consumer products from being developed that CAN assist us.

WD is going to get some grief for making this product but its also why they CAN NOT assist via software in getting material ONTO the player. its also probably why it has NO internal storage of its own (at least partially why)

it removes liability from WD. but it creates WORK for us end users limiting it to more advanced end users IE a niche product.

I prefer it this way. I don't like proprietary restrictive interfaces. I like nice and open and wide file support. Conversion of files sucks. anyone who says otherwise is a moron. it sucks because it takes time lots of time :-)

the WD has massive support for variety and it sounds like it will only get better.

here is hoping they can survive as a niche product and keep the MPAA and RIAA jackals off there backs.

also it LOOKS like it "remembers" that you set something to "repeat" I noticed in video settings it now says repeat all. I had it unplugged for over a day so it REMEMBERED that I had set it this way. this is going to make it a lot easier to use until I get a custom firmware going. its still a pain to get going since I have to see a SCREEN to get it going ie no easy way to do it blind but thats ok. the machine is so wonderful I don't mind dealing with that till I get a custom firmware going.

Keep up the good work WD. Keep things civil fellow critters and enjoy the goodness of technology :-) hehe
The regions they created on DVD is a way to divide the market and it should be ilegal as it is against the word trade agreement that the US has signed, It imposes artificial bounderies to the distribution of goods, and the DMCA it forbids you to remove that constrain wich they should have never been allowed to place. But they have the money to push this laws and we the user continue to give it to them

I searched and searched...can't find the answer I need. Can anyone help?

I have many movies that I've downloaded from various sites. They're all .avi files and the majority are Xvid. WDTV plays some, but says others are not the correct format and need converted. I've tried various "conversion software", but have not been successful in getting WDTV to recognize them.

I'm very new to this and not a computer "geek" by any means. Can anyone recommend conversion software and into what format I need to convert. I've tried just about every format that WDTV says will work

Yes they are.

currently, ogg vorbis audio is not supported within the matroska container. it's a long-standing "wish list" feature, but no one is quite certain where it falls on WD's priority list. sadly, you've gotta change all your files around, or hold out hope that WD will add vorbis in mkv some day.

The regions they created on DVD is a way to divide the market and it should be ilegal as it is against the word trade agreement that the US has signed,

Even more so because region coding is not implemented in any law AFAIK...it is an agreement between movie sudios/content creators and disc and player manufacturers...it is not illegal in the sense that a court would be able to pronounce any sentence aa a result of someone removing the region coding ...it can only allow for the offending party in the said agreement to pay penalties and/or lose the DVD license...

I am about to test the b-rad WDTV firmware v 1.01.02 - DVD-ROM version.

I only have interest in added ext-dvd-rom support and since this modded firmware packs WD's newest released firmware of 1.01.02, then there is no need to test media compatibility but rather just the ext-drive support.

I will repost testing information in approximately 30 minutes.

I just came across this post in a Google search.

Does this mean the WD TV *can* use external DVD-ROM drives to play media off DVD-Rs? !!!?? If so, this solves a whole slew of problems for me.

I just came across this post in a Google search.

Does this mean the WD TV *can* use external DVD-ROM drives to play media off DVD-Rs? !!!?? If so, this solves a whole slew of problems for me.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1126753

Hi and sincere apologies in advance since I'm sure the answer to my question will already be contained within the 7000+ posts already on this thread...

What is the best DVD ripping software to create the best files for the media player?

Recently bought the wd hd tv media player and so far it's great. I was wondering if you can add a picture next to the title though to show up on the video menu instead of just a folder?

HOW do you guys get these things to play DVD rips. I thought if I "ripped" a dvd in its VIDEO_TS folder that it would show up as a "single" film but I am still having it come up as TWO video files (vob 1 and vob 2)
You can use Chapter Extraction in MacTheRipper. You can select "merge" to get a single VOB.
Alternately, you can use something like D Vision or VOBMerge to make a single VOB from as many separate VOBs as you like.

For some reason, every Video_TS folder I've ever tried to play on the WDTV is an "unsupported format", but others seem to get them to play.

Hi and sincere apologies in advance since I'm sure the answer to my question will already be contained within the 7000+ posts already on this thread...

What is the best DVD ripping software to create the best files for the media player?
IMHO, http://www.dvdfab.com/ for the rip & shrink (not free but fantastic support and function) and http://www.imgburn.com/ to do your burning (also creates iso's) and this one is free.

What is the best DVD ripping software to create the best files for the media player?

I use AnyDVD (http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html). It can rip straight to ISO also. DVDFab (http://www.dvdfab.com/) works good also.


For some reason, every Video_TS folder I've ever tried to play on the WDTV is an "unsupported format", but others seem to get them to play.

I don't know if you worded your post wrong, but you can't "play Video_TS folders". You have to select and play the VOB file inside the folder. This has worked on all of my ~200 dvds.

I've had all my SD DVDs backed up by video ts folder structures. For the above reason alone I'm in the process of converting these all to ISO (using Imgburn (http://www.imgburn.com/)).

Whatever happened to DVDShrink? That's the one I've traditionally been using for, what, 10 years now?...:D

it stopped being updated (the creator went to work with NERO and had to agree to stop working on shrink) eventually the "tricks" movie creators used to "hack" the dvd format exceeded the ability of shrink to deal with. BUT if you install ANY DVD shrink then works just fine since anydvd would handle the decryption silently in the background in real time.

Right, Shrink failed to RIP some DVDs with me also...haven't been using it for a while now since I stopped visiting the video rental...:D

Just put an image file of a ripped DVD into Toast, then saved it as "(name).toast".

Renamed to "(name).iso". This file plays fine in VLC.

However, put the file on a memory stick, loaded it into WD TV (with latest pre-release firmware). When I press play I once again get the "Unable to play this file" etc. etc.

So the Toast .iso solution is not working. Will try RipIt tomorrow.
I mistakenly said that I used Ripit in image mode. What I should have said is that after ripping with Ripit, I process the output with DVD2OneX with an output to Image. It produces an image file with the extension .img. I then change that extension to .iso and that works fine with my WDTV. Please note that I only process the Main Feature with DTOX.

whoa, it really does do that, skip pages at the press of prev/next buttons...:D

That is cool! And with the Harmony remote, you can re-map ch up and down to do this, similar to paging through shows on a dvr.

I purchased a WDTV a couple of weeks ago and have tried the various firmware updates including the latest 1.02.04. I'm using a Seagate 1.5 TB USB drive that I was previously using with my PC set up as a server for my networked PS3. I got the WDTV because it supports more A/V formats than what the PS3 does when operating as a network client (e.g., PS3 in this mode doesn't support VC1 and DTS). Now here is the problem that I have with the WDTV. I have ripped quite a few of the BDs in my own collection into m2ts files. I have tried both tsmuxer and tsremux and the problem I have is that many, probably most, when playing back on the WDTV will have the video and audio frequently pause for perhaps 1 second then continue playing. This happens with titles encoded as AVC, MPEG 2 and I haven't tested it enough yet with VC1 encoded video. Since these same m2ts files will play OK when the Seagate HDD is connected to my PC, I don't believe it is an issue with the HDD. Has any other WDTV owners seen this problem and if so, were you able to come up with a solution? As it now stands I may try returning it to BB unless I can solve the issue this week.

I can't seem to find the post where someone mentioned that they were using a 12V sealed lead acid battery to power the WDTV.

Has anybody done this to supply a cleaner power source versus the switching power supply? Maybe a little bit of a gain on the audio fidelity side?

This might help:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16267615


I purchased a WDTV a couple of weeks ago and have tried the various firmware updates including the latest 1.02.04. I'm using a Seagate 1.5 TB USB drive that I was previously using with my PC set up as a server for my networked PS3. I got the WDTV because it supports more A/V formats than what the PS3 does when operating as a network client (e.g., PS3 in this mode doesn't support VC1 and DTS). Now here is the problem that I have with the WDTV. I have ripped quite a few of the BDs in my own collection into m2ts files. I have tried both tsmuxer and tsremux and the problem I have is that many, probably most, when playing back on the WDTV will have the video and audio frequently pause for perhaps 1 second then continue playing. This happens with titles encoded as AVC, MPEG 2 and I haven't tested it enough yet with VC1 encoded video. Since these same m2ts files will play OK when the Seagate HDD is connected to my PC, I don't believe it is an issue with the HDD. Has any other WDTV owners seen this problem and if so, were you able to come up with a solution? As it now stands I may try returning it to BB unless I can solve the issue this week.

thanks for taking the time (again)...I guess I chose my search keywords poorly as I do now see MANY earlier explanations.

If I read between the lines here re AAC audio, can I interpret this to mean that if I want to avoid manually changing the output setting in the WDTV all the time, that I would connect both toslink and RCA to my AV receiver and then have my receiver auto-detect ?? (assuming that there is no signal present when WDTV is set to digital)

I agree "it would be nice" if WD made some provision for a downconverting option for it (since few if any of us likely have AAC decoding in any of our AV equip)...obviously it is able to do it...I'm not sure how it would best be implemented though. (hopefully the RCA will handle it for me)

I do see some AV receivers out there though with AAC decoding...is the 6ch decoding for AAC another matter altogether ?

i think this will answer your question:)
Audio DOES come out ALL audio ports all all times.. I have tried this with HDMI audio to my TV, and toslink to my receiver... however, I have written about audio on this thread a thousand times! here is a quick breakdown on audio...AGAIN

AAC, AC3,MP3 and other supported audio- STEREO MODE- ALL AUDIO is DOWNMIXED to 2 channel audio... audio is output in STEREO MODE thru RCA, Toslink and HDMI

AC3 and DTS- DIGITAL MODE- if audio is 6 channel, then it will be output in 6 channel... when a DTS file is played, it DOES NOT matter which mode you are in... WDTV will AUTOMATICALLY switch to digital.... audio is output in digital mode thru HDMI and TOSLINK.
*AAC 6 channel audio DOES NOT work in digital mode...you must switch to stereo output, and the 6 channel audio will be output as 2 channel stereo.. this is one feature that i hope is added with new firmware..

you have to manually change the output from DIGITAL to STEREO in order to get AAC to come out of RCA...but as soon as you switch to STEREO...you will have audio thru toslink..so it is pointless to have RCA hooked up;) hopefully this will clear it up for you..


Recently bought the wd hd tv media player and so far it's great. I was wondering if you can add a picture next to the title though to show up on the video menu instead of just a folder?

when you add ANY picture to a folder...it will become the thumb for that folder...you do not have to name it! if you have more than 1 pic in the folder....and you want a different folder pic thatn that of the movies inside...then you have to name the cover pic folder.jpg for example if you have the Matrix Trilogy...and when you use the folder view..you want it to show the pic of the box that has all 3 movies on it...you would name that pic the folder.jpg then the 3 pics for the movies would be matrix.jpg,matrix_reloaded.jpg and finally matrix_revolutions.jpg

now when you browse the folder view..you will see the matrix trilogy as a folder....with the trilogy cover as the folder thumb...and once you select the trilogy folder...then inside you will see the 3 movies with the 3 seperate movie covers for each one...

so the best and ONLY way to add 1 pic to a folder...and have it show up as BOTH the folder thumb and the movie icon is to:

Create a folder for each movie...and place the movie inside... and then add a pic that you want used for the thumb, and name it exactly the same as the movie except with the .jpg extension... so if you have a movie called
Bedtime_Stories.MKV the picture NEEDS to be named Bedtime_Stories.jpg
this will let you see a cover for that movie in BOTH the folder view..and the ALL VIDEO view...The name of the folder DOES NOT MATTER.

So if you only use folder view..then all you have to do is drag and drop photos into your folders...no need to rename pics.. but if you want thumbs on ALL views, or want a different cover to show up as folder thumb than the movie thumb..then you have to do a little extra work...hope this helps;)

Create a folder for each movie...and place the movie inside... and then add a pic that you want used for the thumb, and name it exactly the same as the movie except with the .jpg extension... so if you have a movie called
Bedtime_Stories.MKV the picture NEEDS to be named Bedtime_Stories.jpg
this will let you see a cover for that movie in BOTH the folder view..and the ALL VIDEO view...The name of the folder DOES NOT MATTER.


I don´t use any folders... Just put all my files on HD root. Result is better (at least for me). I don´t like the "folder thumb icon" merged with my cover picture. Take a look:

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/8229/imagemndz.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7702/001cov.jpg

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/2188/imagemmfh.png

i think this will answer your question:)


you have to manually change the output from DIGITAL to STEREO in order to get AAC to come out of RCA...but as soon as you switch to STEREO...you will have audio thru toslink..so it is pointless to have RCA hooked up;) hopefully this will clear it up for you..

ok ddm69, thanks for clearing that up (the confusion with RCA came because you said something along the lines of "...it outputs through all ports at all times") ...anyhow I get it...it's gonna really suck like that but I'm going to assume for now that WD will change it further.

So I'm going to have to wait until I hear nothing coming out for my already selected movie and then exit to go to setup to make the change and then drill back down to make the movie selection all over again ??? is that right ??? ...and then likely go through the same scenario on my next movie selection...hmmm, maybe gonna suck worse than I thought.

They may as well have have output 2-ch analog when set to digital if they were going to instinctively suppress passing the digital for AAC anyway (which I assume was based on assumption that people will have limited or no decoding capability through their home AV receivers)

I don´t use any folders... Just put all my files on HD root. Result is better (at least for me). I don´t like the "folder thumb icon" merged with my cover picture. Take a look:

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/8229/imagemndz.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7702/001cov.jpg

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/2188/imagemmfh.png

what happens when you want to play a movie part of a trilogy, or you want to find one Imax movie out of the 30 you have?? the "play" icon is ONLY displayed in Folder view... I have all my movies in their own folder...and I have tons of trilogy,quadrilogy, and Imax films...so they are all in their own folders too... when i just want to watch or browse movies, I use the View All videos view...and even though ALL my movies are in folders...they display thumbs WITHOUT the "play icon"... when I want to watch a trilogy,quad, imax,planet earth, documentaries and anything else i have catergorized...i use the folder view...i go to the folder with all the multiple parts movies/series... i find the cover i want... in this view...yes there will be a "play" icon...but as soon as i select the IMAX folder...then all the IMAX movies inside are displayed in full size thumbs with NO "play" icon:) Everyone has their way... I prefer this as it is NEATER.. not too mention I have covers for my folders with multiple films inside...



ok ddm69, thanks for clearing that up (the confusion with RCA came because you said something along the lines of "...it outputs through all ports at all times") ...anyhow I get it...it's gonna really suck like that but I'm going to assume for now that WD will change it further.

So I'm going to have to wait until I hear nothing coming out for my already selected movie and then exit to go to setup to make the change and then drill back down to make the movie selection all over again ??? is that right ??? ...and then likely go through the same scenario on my next movie selection...hmmm, maybe gonna suck worse than I thought.

They may as well have have output 2-ch analog when set to digital if they were going to instinctively suppress passing the digital for AAC anyway (which I assume was based on assumption that people will have limited or no decoding capability through their home AV receivers)

if you try to play a movie, and it doenst have sound...after you change the audio to stereo....go to recently played view and it will be the first movie listed...so you dont have to go searching for the movie again! you must have the media library turned on in order to use the recently played view...

all decoding for audio is done within the WDTV except for DTS, which is simply passthru and decoded using your AVR... just pissing in the wind here....but,i think 6 channel AAC decoding might be the same issue as DTS downmix... meaning that WDTV did not pay the fee to use Dolby's AAC encoding technology??? But in this case, WDTV does not have the permission to decode 6 channel audio and output it in full 6 channel digital....but is allowed to output as 2 channel audio?? this is my guess...and if thats the case...then I doubt we will see it anytime soon...

Originally Posted by BeardFan
I found this out by chance (pressing the wrong button with my thick fingers ): you can use the skip/next buttons to browse through the list view.

whoa, it really does do that, skip pages at the press of prev/next buttons...:D

Thanks BeardFan, mytbyte, fred_b9300. That's one PITA gone :)

I meant to say that aspect ratio info was in both IFO and the VOB files, but that the two might not agree.
I'm saying the AR flag is written into both IFO and VOB. Whether they are contradictory (author's fault) or processed improperly (WD's fault) I cannot determine. I do know however that some standalones I've tested also do not read the AR flag from some VOBs.

My limited understanding of fair-use and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is that the digital conversion of a CD or DVD for use on another device is protected under fair-use doctrine, but circumvention of copy-protection is not. Therefore, cracking a copy-protected CD would be illegal.
So what? I've bought the DVD and do whatever the hell I like to do with it giving a *** about any lawyers who try do defend laws bought by the industry.

I am going to try an "iso" but this is not the preferred method for me since it doubles the amount of time it takes to get the DVD onto the flash drive. I would have to RIP it to the hard disk first and then "burn" the images to the flash drive as an ISO.
Really? So why not use one of the rip tools mentioned before to rip straight to ISO on your flash drive?

Whatever happened to DVDShrink?
It's still around and doing what it was programmed to do: shrink movies so they fit on DVD-R. There are several tools out there that deal with current copy protections schemes so it's no biggy.

if you try to play a movie, and it doenst have sound...after you change the audio to stereo....go to recently played view and it will be the first movie listed...so you dont have to go searching for the movie again! you must have the media library turned on in order to use the recently played view...

all decoding for audio is done within the WDTV except for DTS, which is simply passthru and decoded using your AVR... just pissing in the wind here....but,i think 6 channel AAC decoding might be the same issue as DTS downmix... meaning that WDTV did not pay the fee to use Dolby's AAC encoding technology??? But in this case, WDTV does not have the permission to decode 6 channel audio and output it in full 6 channel digital....but is allowed to output as 2 channel audio?? this is my guess...and if thats the case...then I doubt we will see it anytime soon...

thx for the playback tip !

in fairness, if the player is not going to give us menu control to manage it, then it should at least take on the responsibility of making some kind of decision of its own on what to output for AAC.......outputting NOTHING does not seem appropriate...either resort to 2ch through the toslink/hdmi...or have the RCA always active for analog signal and let the AV receivers swap over with auto-detect....I'm not ungrateful of recent progress/developments, just saying that it wouldn't take a lot to make it more convenient as this particular process seems a little flawed.

I don't know if you worded your post wrong, but you can't "play Video_TS folders". You have to select and play the VOB file inside the folder. This has worked on all of my ~200 dvds.
I meant selecting the VOB within the Video_TS folder wouldn't work.
I only tried this on a couple early on, when I found that the stand-alone VOB file worked I was content and never tried the Video_TS structure again. It's possible that the files were bad, I suppose. I'll try again sometime.

The stand alone VOBs always work for me except for a few that display with odd aspect ratios (e.g., Dexter). I need to try a WD folder dump and reboot to see if this got fixed with a newly created VOB.

Hi and sincere apologies in advance since I'm sure the answer to my question will already be contained within the 7000+ posts already on this thread...

What is the best DVD ripping software to create the best files for the media player?

"Best" is relative, and your mileage always varies, but here's what works for me.

I still use DVD Shrink for ripping most of my DVDs, although I always rip to full size, no compression. I rip the movie only, plus only the English soundtrack and English subtitles (I live in the US). If there's a commentary track, I include that too.

I like DVD Shrink because it can rip directly to an ISO file, which is my preferred format for the WDTV. This results in a single file, with all the features I want, and which looks just as good as the original DVD.

If DVD Shrink can't handle the DVD, then I use DVD Fab HD Decrypter to rip it. DVD Fab is shareware, but it's free if you only use the HD Decrypter part, which really is all I need. HD Decypter only rips to the VIDEO_TS + VOB files structure, so I then use DVD Shrink to re-author it into an ISO file, which only takes a couple of minutes.

While I prefer ISO files, the WDTV has problems playing ISOs smaller than 1Gb (a problem previously reported in this forum). So for TV shows, I still use DVD Shrink to rip each individual episode to an ISO, then I use Handbrake to transcode each to MKV format, using the H264 video codec and AC3 or AAC audio codec (depending on what was available in the original).

Like I said, this works for me. Hope it helps. :D

Baercat

Problem solved!
I came to an idea to do the "check disk" option in Windows, and checked the option "automatically fix errors". After doing it the .wdtv folder was gone.
WD TV accepted the drive and works excellent.
BTW I got the thumbnails that I was wishing for.
Thanks to Dan & Fred for suggestions.

Thank you Dan and Fred. I had same issue!

currently, ogg vorbis audio is not supported within the matroska container. it's a long-standing "wish list" feature, but no one is quite certain where it falls on WD's priority list. sadly, you've gotta change all your files around, or hold out hope that WD will add vorbis in mkv some day.

I See.

Well, thanks for taking the time to answer my question, I appreciate it.

Do you guys always eject your drives?

I normally power down and unplug and now for the 2nd time files on my HDD have become corrupt with new files not being recognised by the WDTV....I guess another reformat then?

woh people have had there wdtv's corrupt files?

That is indeed the question dude

It starts with one file, then another gets corrupt....then like I said new files that I'm adding just don't get recognised at all and the only option then is to reformat..

Ok then I won't be plugging any of my hard disks into the WDTV at all. I will use a dedicated hard disk just for the WDTV and copy the files to it as needed.

I will not risk a 500gb or 1tb worth of irreplaceable content on that kind of risk!

Do you guys always eject your drives?

I normally power down and unplug and now for the 2nd time files on my HDD have become corrupt with new files not being recognised by the WDTV....I guess another reformat then?

That's a good question. I always unmount my drives because it's a habit I have with all external drives. However, I would imagine that hitting the power button on the WDTV remote should unmount all connected disks safely as part of its shutdown routine (just as your PC/Mac does).

I've never actually tried what you have been doing and haven't tried the latest beta firmware yet. I haven't seen any corruption so far in over four months of daily use (with the unit disconnected every day to add new files). I'm running a WD 1TB Essential drive with HFS+ (non-journalled).

That is indeed the question dude

It starts with one file, then another gets corrupt....then like I said new files that I'm adding just don't get recognised at all and the only option then is to reformat..

I always Eject my drives before shutting down and have never experienced any corruption issues or any newly added files which are unrecognised.

If you use the remote to power down the WD TV but do not disconnect the power then any attached drive will remain mounted. Therefore, if you switch off from the remote and then turn off the power you might cause your drive a problem.

IMO the rule is always Eject the drive before adding new media and always Eject the drive before turning off power to the WD TV.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Do you guys always eject your drives?

Yes

In windows I never "eject" drives. I wait till no more drive activity is occuring and I unplug the usb or power cables. Never a problem.

Yes

Oh, yes!

Thanks guys, I will eject from now on....my bad I guess, not the WD's :)

Where is the eject option located in the wdtv menu?

Where is the eject option located in the wdtv menu?

Tom, under your thumb, on the wdtv remote, there's a button called... wait for it... eject!

thx for the playback tip !

in fairness, if the player is not going to give us menu control to manage it, then it should at least take on the responsibility of making some kind of decision of its own on what to output for AAC.......outputting NOTHING does not seem appropriate...either resort to 2ch through the toslink/hdmi...or have the RCA always active for analog signal and let the AV receivers swap over with auto-detect....I'm not ungrateful of recent progress/developments, just saying that it wouldn't take a lot to make it more convenient as this particular process seems a little flawed.

yes....having the WDTV automatically select the best output mode according to what cable you are using, and depending on the file type... is a feature that should be implemented! It does not make any sense to have to go back to menu options to change output mode in order to play certain audio files...it should be AUTOMATIC.. lets hope WD makes this happen in the near future:)




Do you guys always eject your drives?

I normally power down and unplug and now for the 2nd time files on my HDD have become corrupt with new files not being recognised by the WDTV....I guess another reformat then?

sorry people..but you cant blame WD for corrupt files when the instructions clearly state to eject hard drives after use... the eject button is there for a reason... and if you are one of those who says you never eject and everything is fine...dont come complaining that the WD corrupted your movies when you didnt follow the directions...

why take a chance?? it only takes a few seconds... better safe than sorry...

I always eject my drives...then power down the WDTV with remote..i never disconnect power to the WDTV...it doesnt even really get warm..has been plugged in for 5 months now! I then power off my WD home edition drives using the power-off button... it doesnt matter if i dont touch it at all...or if i disconnect the drives to add new movies.. I reconnect the drive.... power up the WDTV, then press the power-on button on my drives... the WDTV menu is up in seconds...and within 10-15 seconds, my drive starts to scan... and when i add new movies, usually about 5 1080p movies at once, it takes an extra few seconds to scan...but done scanning and ready to play 20-25 seconds after power up..

Tom, under your thumb, on the wdtv remote, there's a button called... wait for it... eject!

Hey wicker man, your a funny guy! LOL :D. You see, I don't use the wdtv remote. I'm using a logitec remote. Guess I'll have to program an eject button into my remote. Thanks.

While your logic is sensible the problem still persists. I have never once in my THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of unplugging a hard disk (once activity was done) from a windows machine have I ever had so much as a single corrupt byte. this is on over 8 TB of drives (thats a lot of drives as only 1 is a TB and 4 are 500gb)

YES it says eject YES it has an eject button

NO it should not be required and the fact that it is is a FLAW in the WDTV.

not a big deal but one I am glad I am aware of before plugging my irreplaceable data into it :-) hehe

is this a linux thing? ie does the linux os require an "unmount" like on the mac?

or is this a WDTV thing? does anyone know the reason for it?

I will be sure to use the eject button but I still do not trust the WDTV to my prime hard disks now. What happens if I have a power glitch? I am not concerned with this in windows as "unplugging" a hard disk is not going to crash anything when connected to my xp machines.

I will also be sure to put my HD and WDTV on a battery backup now for just that reason to protect from power glitches.

can I hit EJECT while a movie is playing? if the power goes out I am not going to be able to see the screen. I can hit home first but no assurance it will have gotten there since I can't see it. Whats the maximum time it should take from hitting eject till I can be sure its happened? IE till I can safetly power down the hard disk?

for my flash drive usage I don't care its ONE movie on an 8gb drive it anything corrupts in 12 minutes I will have it formatted and the dvd copied again so no big deal.

but at home this is a concern.

While your logic is sensible the problem still persists. I have never once in my THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of unplugging a hard disk (once activity was done) from a windows machine have I ever had so much as a single corrupt byte. this is on over 8 TB of drives (thats a lot of drives as only 1 is a TB and 4 are 500gb)

YES it says eject YES it has an eject button

NO it should not be required and the fact that it is is a FLAW in the WDTV.

not a big deal but one I am glad I am aware of before plugging my irreplaceable data into it :-) hehe

is this a linux thing? ie does the linux os require an "unmount" like on the mac?

or is this a WDTV thing? does anyone know the reason for it?

I will be sure to use the eject button but I still do not trust the WDTV to my prime hard disks now. What happens if I have a power glitch? I am not concerned with this in windows as "unplugging" a hard disk is not going to crash anything when connected to my xp machines.

I will also be sure to put my HD and WDTV on a battery backup now for just that reason to protect from power glitches.

can I hit EJECT while a movie is playing? if the power goes out I am not going to be able to see the screen. I can hit home first but no assurance it will have gotten there since I can't see it. Whats the maximum time it should take from hitting eject till I can be sure its happened? IE till I can safetly power down the hard disk?

for my flash drive usage I don't care its ONE movie on an 8gb drive it anything corrupts in 12 minutes I will have it formatted and the dvd copied again so no big deal.

but at home this is a concern.


there is NO FLAW...it tells you to eject..if you dont do it, your are taking the risk of possibly corrupting your drive.. YOUR CHOICE to avoid directions is not a flaw..

on another note...i think you are taking this way to seriously?? i have turned off my drives before on accident right in the middle of playing a file...without a problem... i have flipped the power switch off on my power strip, powering down all 4 hard drives of 1TB each...while i was playing a movie... nothing happened! putting a power supply is OVERKILL..lol how many people have mentioned losing data or corrupting drives because of NOT EJECTING?? just 2 that i can think of...thats 2 people out of thousands of members... the odds of losing data are very slim! like the last person who stated he has a corrupt drive for a second time... this does not sound like a WDTV problem.. this sounds like his computer not ejecting correctly, or he is disconnecting before eject or writing process?? or the drive is just going bad or has bad sectors.. highly unlikely for the WD to cause a corrupt drive...even without ejecting.. to cause it 2 times...i think not??

i am simply stating that people dont have a right to complain about losing data if THEY CHOOSE to IGNORE WD's instructions to EJECT....

i recommend that you do use the eject button, as it is better safe than sorry...but at the same time, it is highly unlikely that you will ever lose data for not using the eject button;)

yes....having the WDTV automatically select the best output mode according to what cable you are using, and depending on the file type... is a feature that should be implemented! It does not make any sense to have to go back to menu options to change output mode in order to play certain audio files...it should be AUTOMATIC.. lets hope WD makes this happen in the near future:)






sorry people..but you cant blame WD for corrupt files when the instructions clearly state to eject hard drives after use... the eject button is there for a reason... and if you are one of those who says you never eject and everything is fine...dont come complaining that the WD corrupted your movies when you didnt follow the directions...

why take a chance?? it only takes a few seconds... better safe than sorry...

I always eject my drives...then power down the WDTV with remote..i never disconnect power to the WDTV...it doesnt even really get warm..has been plugged in for 5 months now! I then power off my WD home edition drives using the power-off button... it doesnt matter if i dont touch it at all...or if i disconnect the drives to add new movies.. I reconnect the drive.... power up the WDTV, then press the power-on button on my drives... the WDTV menu is up in seconds...and within 10-15 seconds, my drive starts to scan... and when i add new movies, usually about 5 1080p movies at once, it takes an extra few seconds to scan...but done scanning and ready to play 20-25 seconds after power up..


wait, so you eject your drive after every use and then have to but up with the annoying delay of the thumbnails loading each time. I thought correct usage would be to just eject when you need to add new files to it. When your done watching a movie, just turn it off and leave power to both the wdtv and the HD.

I really wish scott or wdguy would advise us on correct procedure before it becomes a situation where users are losing HDD's worth or movies. The manual is a bit vague.

Seriously guys, the chances that the WDTV is corrupting files is slim to none. If I was looking for a culprit it would be somewhere along the PC/MAC -> HD connection, not the WDTV -> HD.

Seriously guys, the chances that the WDTV is corrupting files is slim to none. If I was looking for a culprit it would be somewhere along the PC/MAC -> HD connection, not the WDTV -> HD.

it's the same. If data is being written/read from a drive and it loses power then it has a chance of being corrupted. The wdtv is reading the drive for movies, thumbnails, file size, whatever else. If you don't eject, it will eventually corrupt.

it's the same. If data is being written/read from a drive and it loses power then it has a chance of being corrupted. The wdtv is reading the drive for movies, thumbnails, file size, whatever else. If you don't eject, it will eventually corrupt.

I agree. The WDTV does very little disk writing, basically just to update the drive index when it's turned on the first time.

If someone is turning off or unplugging their drive during a movie being played, ok, maybe a file gets corrupt (still slim) but no one is doing this on purpose.

However, if someone is telling me this:

While your logic is sensible the problem still persists. I have never once in my THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of unplugging a hard disk (once activity was done) from a windows machine have I ever had so much as a single corrupt byte. this is on over 8 TB of drives (thats a lot of drives as only 1 is a TB and 4 are 500gb)


I'd say the problem lies here somewhere, not with the WDTV.

Either way there is no reason for it to corrupt a drive. corrupt the one file its working on ok sure corrupt files to the point where a reformat it needed.

sorry call it what you want thats still a design flaw. Just because a flaw is solved by a directed work around (make sure you eject) does not change the fact that its a design flaw.

Now its easy to work around for sure but I still won't place that much trust into it :-)

No big deal I have plenty of hard drives and I would never bring one of my big drives down to leave in the family room anyway (don't trust the rest of the family with them) I will copy what they want into a drive and they can use that :-)

If I shut down my laptop with a usb drive connected it powers down the usb drive. When I boot it back up it detects it again.

Why can't the wdtv just do this. not bitching, i love the device but I won't advise my less tech savy friends to get one just yet as they will probably find some difficulties with certain aspects like this.

In windows I never "eject" drives. I wait till no more drive activity is occuring and I unplug the usb or power cables. Never a problem.

However... you are not in Windows while using the WDTV box, are you?

And to safely remove ANY external drive from your PC, you really SHOULD also eject the drive first.I know I'd sure hate to find out the hard way (corrupting a drive) that oops, I should have unmounted it first. But hey...let your conscience be your guide.:)

wait, so you eject your drive after every use and then have to but up with the annoying delay of the thumbnails loading each time. I thought correct usage would be to just eject when you need to add new files to it. When your done watching a movie, just turn it off and leave power to both the wdtv and the HD.

I really wish scott or wdguy would advise us on correct procedure before it becomes a situation where users are losing HDD's worth or movies. The manual is a bit vague.

huh?? thats what the wdtv folder and cache memory is for... i eject my drives everytime..and i power them down...some people prefer to run them 24/7...i dont...i go a few days without using my WDTV..no point in running them 24/7.. even after eject, and even after adding new movies and thumbs... it takes seconds to finish scanning...and once i go into my HD movie folder... all thumbs are INSTANT.. there is no loading time... i dont know what you are talking about??? the only time the wdtv takes time to load thumbs is the first time you add the thumbs...after that it is instant! i have ALL my movies in one folder, so all thumbs load instantly everytime:)

this is directly from the WD userguide...
Removing a USB Device
To prevent data loss, it is highly recommended that you first press the EJECT button
on the remote control before removing a USB device.
To remove a USB device:
1. Press the EJECT button on the remote.
2. Select the USB device you want to remove.
3. Highlight OK on the eject prompt, then press ENTER.
4. Disconnect the USB device from the HD media player.

huh?? thats what the wdtv folder and cache memory is for... i eject my drives everytime..and i power them down...some people prefer to run them 24/7...i dont...i go a few days without using my WDTV..no point in running them 24/7.. even after eject, and even after adding new movies and thumbs... it takes seconds to finish scanning...and once i go into my HD movie folder... all thumbs are INSTANT.. there is no loading time... i dont know what you are talking about??? the only time the wdtv takes time to load thumbs is the first time you add the thumbs...after that it is instant! i have ALL my movies in one folder, so all thumbs load instantly everytime:)

this is directly from the WD userguide...
Removing a USB Device
To prevent data loss, it is highly recommended that you first press the EJECT button
on the remote control before removing a USB device.
To remove a USB device:
1. Press the EJECT button on the remote.
2. Select the USB device you want to remove.
3. Highlight OK on the eject prompt, then press ENTER.
4. Disconnect the USB device from the HD media player.


sorry my bad on the instructions. I must have missed that part. TLDR.

strange on the thumbnails. I have all mine in genre folders and every time i reconnect my drive it takes about seconds to load them all again. If I turn it off and back on it's instant. Only when I disconnect the drive do I get the delay again. It's annoying because I add movies regularly and have to go through this whith each of the categories. I'm on the latest firmware but maybe I have a problem with my device.

Anyone else having the same trouble?

oh and for anyone not using genre icons I recommend it as it makes finding movies a lot easier.

Here's the thumbnails I use. Just rename each one to folder.jpg and drop it in a folder.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9585/actionk.jpg

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8338/adventured.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7750/animeutp.jpg

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/6626/comedy.jpg

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/4476/comict.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/415/documentaryb.jpg

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2560/dramav.jpg

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/9748/familye.jpg

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/217/fantasyy.jpg

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4001/horrorpzs.jpg

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/3079/romanced.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4964/scifi.jpg

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/7764/thriller.jpg

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3290/33393259.jpg

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7210/westernf.jpg

haha i think i just realised my problem. Some might be a bit big. Anyway resize and use if you want.

If DVD Shrink can't handle the DVD, then I use DVD Fab HD Decrypter to rip it. DVD Fab is shareware, but it's free if you only use the HD Decrypter part, which really is all I need. HD Decypter only rips to the VIDEO_TS + VOB files structure
The registered version does rip to ISO.

I have installed 1.02.04 and I like it a lot. It's stabile, quick, the folder.jpg works nicely, no more sound gabs, no subtitle problems so far (and so see the language of the subtitle is such a relieve), etc.

So after all "complaining" I found it time for a positive post! :)

More often than not, ejecting my drive results in the round eject graphic on the screen circle forever, it just hangs there indefiitely...it's a 1TB Verbatim external with a 3,5" green WD drive inside...so I do not eject...I never know what situation I'll end up with...could it be, since it's a "green" drive, it spins down (goes to sleep) and WD TV can no longer access it, i.e. there is a bug with eject not being able to bring the drive back from sleep...

Do you guys always eject your drives?

I normally power down and unplug and now for the 2nd time files on my HDD have become corrupt with new files not being recognised by the WDTV....I guess another reformat then?

Is this a new external USB drive? Reason I ask is because I previously owned an external HDD enclosure that would corrupt files as I transferred files to it from Windows. To test this, once you copy a movie to the HDD from Windows, try copying it back to Windows and then doing a file compare (open a cmd.exe window and type: fc /b file1 file2)

Perhaps the file is being corrupted before even touching the WD TV.

Also, I'm assuming it's FAT32 or NTFS, but I should ask what file system you are using on the HDD. If it's EXT or HFS then you can ignore my test procedure above.

-Mod

Does this firmware update actually turn the WDTV fully off?

Does one still have to eject the external drive every time your done with the unit so it does not corrupt the files like it used to?

Does H.264/original audio in an .mkv file play smoothly with the new version?
I saw a few early complaints that some .mkv files that played before would not play after firmware upgrade.

I searched and searched...can't find the answer I need. Can anyone help?

I have many movies that I've downloaded from various sites. They're all .avi files and the majority are Xvid. WDTV plays some, but says others are not the correct format and need converted. I've tried various "conversion software", but have not been successful in getting WDTV to recognize them.

I'm very new to this and not a computer "geek" by any means. Can anyone recommend conversion software and into what format I need to convert. I've tried just about every format that WDTV says will work

Although no one offered a solution, thanks to all that read my post. I downloaded and applied the new beta firmware from the WDTV site. Lo and behold, .avi movies that would not play now play. My problem solved. All I ever wanted WDTV to do was play my downloaded movies. I can live with poor quality to view 1st run movies from the comfort of my couch.

Although no one offered a solution, thanks to all that read my post. I downloaded and applied the new beta firmware from the WDTV site. Lo and behold, .avi movies that would not play now play. My problem solved. All I ever wanted WDTV to do was play my downloaded movies. I can live with poor quality to view 1st run movies from the comfort of my couch.

i hope you dont think everybody was ignoring you garyh99? but this forum is for the discussion of the WDTV and its uses/problems/tips etc... FOR the purpose of playing your legally purchased/converted movies/music/etc... when you openly admit to downloading ALL your movies which is definately not endorsed, supported or tolerated here @ AVS forums... you are most likely to not receive any support or guidance, simply because it is against forum rules. Everyone has the choice on how to obtain their material, and in some countries is is perfectly legal to do dowload, but it still doesnt mean it can be openly discussed in this forum.. so for future reference... simply ask for help without letting us know how you got it, and dont even mention or add the name of the file on your file info... all we need is the format,codec,reframe rates,audio codec,resolution,etc... the details of where or how you obtained the file is not of importance.. Stick to this method, and I am sure you will receive all the help you need... Enjoy your WDTV and this great forum:)

Hi, 1080p films still play in slow motion some times.

Some thoughts on media ejection.

As has been noted on the previous page, the WDTV manual states that it is highly recommendable to eject a disk before removing it (Page 19).

I think this is slightly ambiguous (although most people will interpret that disks must be ejected when your done using the player - something I always do). I say 'slightly ambiguous' as some people may think that the comment only applies when physically removing the disk (for example to add or delete new content).

It doesn't explicitly say what to do when you just want to turn the unit off and power down the drive and/or unit.

Although I always go through the procedure of 'ejecting' drives using the eject button, I have a feeling that the OS on the unit should unmount all attached filesystems safely prior to completing the shutdown process.

Perhaps Scott or Guy could clarify this point? If turns out that the drives must be ejected even when turning the system off (independently of whether you plan to remove the drive or not) then I would propose a change in behaviour for the WD TV.

I'm not in a position to try powering down my drive after turning the unit off without ejecting first, as I don't have a backup drive yet.

Any thoughts?

I have both my hard drive and the WDTV on a dedicated power strip with on/off switch.

Hi all,

I have been interested in this product for a while, but have hesitated, as I did
not necessarily want to have to rip all my DVD and Blu ray disks to a hard drive. Can one simply throw a PC DVD or Blu ray drive into a USB2 enclosure and play the disks, or do I have to rip to individual files? I saw something about audio format restrictions somewhere. If I did have to rip the disks, should they otherwise play o.k.? Lastly for now, does anyone know if an updated player will be released any time soon which may include the latest HDMI standard?

first off...i just tested my hub with 4 HDD hooked up to it...and the view all videos DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE:( now, it only shows the video of the last folder(hard drive) that you browsed... this did work with the orginal 1.0.2 firmware! but with the new firmware betas, seems like that feature was lost:(

WHen using a powered USB hub, it is recommended that you use the SIDE usb port... it seems to work much better with this port than the back one..




Audio DOES come out ALL audio ports all all times.. I have tried this with HDMI audio to my TV, and toslink to my receiver... however, I have written about audio on this thread a thousand times! here is a quick breakdown on audio...AGAIN;)

AAC, AC3,MP3 and other supported audio- STEREO MODE- ALL AUDIO is DOWNMIXED to 2 channel audio... audio is output in STEREO MODE thru RCA, Toslink and HDMI:)

AC3 and DTS- DIGITAL MODE- if audio is 6 channel, then it will be output in 6 channel... when a DTS file is played, it DOES NOT matter which mode you are in... WDTV will AUTOMATICALLY switch to digital.... audio is output in digital mode thru HDMI and TOSLINK.
*AAC 6 channel audio DOES NOT work in digital mode...you must switch to stereo output, and the 6 channel audio will be output as 2 channel stereo.. this is one feature that i hope is added with new firmware..





Finally.... new beta 1.02.04 has some significant improvements in audio/video playback! i had 3 movies that are 1080p with 6 channel AC3....and the audio has always played back with some problems...cutting in and out every few minutes.. i had not got around to trying to fix them or convert them.. U just played the 3 movies that have choppy audio with new beta firmware... and they played PERFECTLY!!!

another problem that WDTV has had in the past is....playing audio in an MKV container where there are several digital or DTS audio streams... usually the only way to fix this was my using TSmuxer and removing the the other audio streams... I had a movie that had DTS-Master as primary, Spanish DTS as secondary stream..and English DTS as 3rd stream... of course HD audio was unsupported...when i went to english DTS, it would playback choppy...going in and out... NOT ANYMORE!! i just played this movie, and selected the audio i wanted, even though it was the 3rd stream...and it played without a single hitch!! Didnt try 1080p 24...not worried about that right now... but overall audio playback is SOLID!! I dont have a single movie out of 600+ that doesnt work!LOL i just has these handful...and they are now fixed! Video playback looks sharper and smoother than ever!!! They are getting close to a GREAT final firmware release!!


** I am never one to complain......but...... WD definately needs to allow us the choice to turn AUTO SUBS on or off... people complained about wanting auto subs on...now they are there...but i dont think it is fair for all of us who dont need subs to have to turn them off EVERY single time a movie is started! A simple solution would be a feature that allows us to choose for oursleves:)
Dan, would you recommend reverting to 1.0.2 where the "All Videos" function worked properly or wait for the next beta and hope it's fixed? Thanks.

Hi, 1080p films still play in slow motion some times.

thats because you are STILL trying to play 1080p films that surpass WDTV's capablities! there are reframe limits.. I suggest you learn them...and then you wont wonder why your films STILL are choppy:) if your file is choppy, it is 100% because the reframe limit is too high... learn to encode your blurays within WD specs....or find a better source;)
*think about this* you can make an exact copy of a bluray..with no compression...nothing done to it, and the WD can play it back perfectly!! when you or encoders re-code and compress the bluray files, and set the reframe limit to high...well, thats either cuz your retarded(no offense;)... or more and likely cuz the "original" (cough cough...not you!) ripper didnt encode the movie intending to play it on the WDTV...so in that case, thats too damn bad:(




Dan, would you recommend reverting to 1.0.2 where the "All Videos" function worked properly or wait for the next beta and hope it's fixed? Thanks.

the features such as thumbnail support, and more importantly enhanced playback and navigation FAR outweigh going back to older firmware just to view all movies at once! i would just wait and hope WD makes this happen... i would rather have great video and audio playback (BIG audio playback improvement in last beta release!) and navigation, and of course great thumbnail support... and having to open another drive seperately.... than to have ALL movies on one screen, with NO thumbs, and mediocre playback and navigation... thats just me... but everybody has their own view...but you asked for mine:) lol

*heck* some users are still on original firmware from back in november because they think it is perfect...for what they do i guess... if you play mkv's, new beta is highly recommended!

I applied the 01.01.04 preview on my WDTV last night and like others here, suddenly all of my .AVI videos shot with my Canon A620 played and sounded beautifully. And all of my .MP4 videos shot with my Sanyo XACTI HD camera played as well. .MP4s played with the original release (but the format wasn't recognized with 01.01.02). 01.01.02 also didn't recognize my Canon .AVI videos either.

So I was quite happy with the 01.01.04 patch preview. But tonight, I watched a number of Sanyo and Canon videos (probably 20 or so) and then started to play a Canon AVI. About ten seconds before the video ended, the video froze but I still heard the audio. Then the playback ended, I was returned back to the thumbnail menu and from then on, ALL of my Sanyo MP4 and Canon AVI videos were not recognized as playable formats by the system. I even powered off the unit and powered it back on and still, every MP4 and AVI file comes up as not being recognized as a playable format by WDTV.

Clearly they were playable until this otherwise normal Canon AVI video was played. I have the video and would be more than happy to let WDC analyze it with hopes they can pinpoint the cause of format recognition failure. It's a video of my wife playing with our grandson, so copyright won't be an issue.

But I want my WDTV to work again. I was so happy that it was finally playing my home videos. I was actually ready to take it back for a refund last night but tried 01.01.04 and glad I did. I appreciate the work put into .04 and hope that this problem too can be corrected. I'm willing do anything I can to help out.

I applied the 01.01.04 preview on my WDTV last night and like others here, suddenly all of my .AVI videos shot with my Canon A620 played and sounded beautifully. And all of my .MP4 videos shot with my Sanyo XACTI HD camera played as well. .MP4s played with the original release (but the format wasn't recognized with 01.01.02). 01.01.02 also didn't recognize my Canon .AVI videos either.

So I was quite happy with the 01.01.04 patch preview. But tonight, I watched a number of Sanyo and Canon videos (probably 20 or so) and then started to play a Canon AVI. About ten seconds before the video ended, the video froze but I still heard the audio. Then the playback ended, I was returned back to the thumbnail menu and from then on, ALL of my Sanyo MP4 and Canon AVI videos were not recognized as playable formats by the system. I even powered off the unit and powered it back on and still, every MP4 and AVI file comes up as not being recognized as a playable format by WDTV.

Clearly they were playable until this otherwise normal Canon AVI video was played. I have the video and would be more than happy to let WDC analyze it with hopes they can pinpoint the cause of format recognition failure. It's a video of my wife playing with our grandson, so copyright won't be an issue.

But I want my WDTV to work again. I was so happy that it was finally playing my home videos. I was actually ready to take it back for a refund last night but tried 01.01.04 and glad I did. I appreciate the work put into .04 and hope that this problem too can be corrected. I'm willing do anything I can to help out.


powering off the WDTV with the remote does not kill power to the WDTV.. it simply turns off the LEDs in the front..lol they keep it powered on purpose for instant load times. so the system does not have to boot up the user interface..saving a whopping 10 seconds..lol

anyways..you are not familiar with the menus, just unplug the power cord for a few seconds, and reconnect ...or simply do a system reset in the system settings...if ..it will then play all the videos again... if the same video causes the same problem...then the video is the problem...might just be a one time glitch...or the file might be corrupt.. remember, just because the file can play on your computer doesnt mean it is not corrupt...

"remember, just because the file can play on your computer doesnt mean it is not corrupt..."

That makes no sense. Look up the word corrupt :-) it it plays on the computer its BY DEFINITION not corrupt.

now what it probably is it "improperly encoded" ie out of spec or it simply has a "glitch"

I am glad to hear it plays Xacti files I shoot a lot with my HD1 !!

I will have to try some of my other oddball digicam videos :-)

Hi all,

I have been interested in this product for a while, but have hesitated, as I did
not necessarily want to have to rip all my DVD and Blu ray disks to a hard drive. Can one simply throw a PC DVD or Blu ray drive into a USB2 enclosure and play the disks, or do I have to rip to individual files? I saw something about audio format restrictions somewhere. If I did have to rip the disks, should they otherwise play o.k.? Lastly for now, does anyone know if an updated player will be released any time soon which may include the latest HDMI standard?

Why use the WDTV at all if you want to play DVD/Blu-Ray discs? Why not just pop the discs in a DVD/Blu-Ray player?

:confused::confused::confused:

Why use the WDTV at all if you want to play DVD/Blu-Ray discs? Why not just pop the discs in a DVD/Blu-Ray player?
For the umpteenth time: because ppl don't want to be DJs and they want their disks to be out of reach of their little kids.

"remember, just because the file can play on your computer doesnt mean it is not corrupt..."

That makes no sense. Look up the word corrupt :-) it it plays on the computer its BY DEFINITION not corrupt.

now what it probably is it "improperly encoded" ie out of spec or it simply has a "glitch"

I am glad to hear it plays Xacti files I shoot a lot with my HD1 !!

I will have to try some of my other oddball digicam videos :-)



what makes no sense...is you..lol you must not have been around hd movies and computer playback vs hard drive media players for too long??? because if you had...you wouldnt have doubted what i said....i know what i am talking about... i am afraid that you...dont:(

**just to teach you what you do not know** why dont you look up VLC media player...and read what it does in the user guide...somewhere in there you will find a line that reads like this.. " VLC can even play corrupted files that were not playable with other players"... ring a bell? no??? well, like i said before, many of todays players are capable of playing corrupt files....most hard disk drive medai players CANNOT! end of story... please know what you are talking about before you call someone out...or you will look silly;)

Actually based on my definition I am right and you are wrong. I have probably converted more videos than you by orders of magnitude.

I am well aware of VLC (it sucks but has its uses so I keep a copy installed) Windows media player is about the only player that WON'T play files with errors. Most decent media players can handle them without much fuss. Zoom and KMplayer work fine.

Also most hard disk media players are usually pretty pliant at playing "corrupt" files it just depends on "how" corrupt they are.

BUT in this situation I capitulate. I was incorrect. I had a definition of "corrupt" that was incorrect. I had always accepted corrupt as "damaged beyond use" but this apparently is incorrect.

I just looked up the definition and its: Containing errors or alterations, as a text: a corrupt translation.

With that definition you are correct. I apologize.

For the umpteenth time: because ppl don't want to be DJs and they want their disks to be out of reach of their little kids.

And for the umpteenth time, if you want to do just that, using the WDTV as your "DJ", then the files you load in for it must meet it's specs.

Hello guys,

I don't know why this file cannot be played in my WD HD TV: it says that format is not supported?

General
Complete name : G:\down\Madonna - The Confessions Tour (Live From London).mkv
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
Format profile : OpenDML
File size : 2.10 GiB
Duration : 1h 27mn
Overall bit rate : 3 449 Kbps
Writing application : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.1 (Build 2366/Release)
Writing library : VirtualDubMod Build 2366/Release

Video
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Codec ID : H264
Duration : 1h 27mn
Bit rate : 2 992 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.135
Stream size : 1.83 GiB (87%)
Writing library : x264 core 50 svn-569
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=6 / brdo=0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / slices=1 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / bframes=0 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / bitrate=2992 / ratetol=1.0 / rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)' / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40

Audio
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID : 2000
Duration : 1h 27mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : 32ms
Stream size : 280 MiB (13%)
Alignment : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration : 83 ms (2.00 video frames)
Interleave, preload duration : 500 ms

Is it possible to download English subtitle srt files for movies that are in English but have some dialog in a foreign language? The only srt files I have found include subs for all dialog and are visible throughout the movie. When watching the movie on disc the subs only come up at the appropriate time.

Brian

Brian, i'm not too sure that question could be answered in this forum.
Nonetheless, i'm PMing you.

If i have a DD5.1 amp/receiver with optical IN, can i output dts from wtdv to my amp?

If i have a DD5.1 amp/receiver with optical IN, can i output dts from wtdv to my amp?

You can output it, the question is can your amp/receiver decode it. Look at your receiver specs, does it say it decodes DTS?

I was playing an AVI file last night and it got to about the last 10 minutes of the video and then it bounced back to the middle of the video and ran from there without skipping a beat. I had seen it once before but now it is has happened a couple times and I thought I would ask around. I use the WD HDTV quite often and am very pleased but has anyone else seen this. I read a lot of posts but did not see this particular issue come up. Thanks

I'm sorry if this has been asked before (and it probably has), but what are those with multi-hard drive solutions doing to incorporate their media with the WDTV??
I've got 6 media hard drives of various sizes (eg. one for movies, one for music, one for pictures, one for home video, etc).. Is there any way that I can have these all put into the same apparatus and play it from the WDTV? I don't want to have to plug one in, take one out, and all that crap because it's pretty tiresome to do it.


And also, what is the bitrate limit that was talked about on this page? Are there any other technical limitations (eg. resolution, etc) that prevent certain videos from being played? What are some recommended tools and applications for reencoding videos without any quality loss? Thanks in advance

With all this talk of ejecting or not ejecting the drives, has anyone programmed their Logitech remote to eject drives when turning the WD TV off?

Also, I remember someone posting here a link to a device that hard drives (or anything) could be plugged into which could be shut down with a remote (I think it is sold at DealExtreme). If you can eject drive with a Logitech remote, could you also power the drives down?

In other word, I'm looking for a simple solution to power down the drives with a Logitech remote when done watching.

BTW, I love the WD TV for many reasons, but especially the fact that we don't have to deal with the pile of kid's DVDs that eventually accumulates near the DVD player (and the short lifespans of DVDs when kids are handling them).

Thanks.

Has anyone be able to get any of the Movie Jukeboxes to run on the WD box? (ie ... YAMJ, Movie Flow, or My Lil Movie Jukebox)

Here's my latest demo of the My Lil Movie Jukbox for the Popcorn Hour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtPImwm5uYc

I'm sorry if this has been asked before (and it probably has), but what are those with multi-hard drive solutions doing to incorporate their media with the WDTV??
I've got 6 media hard drives of various sizes (eg. one for movies, one for music, one for pictures, one for home video, etc).. Is there any way that I can have these all put into the same apparatus and play it from the WDTV? I don't want to have to plug one in, take one out, and all that crap because it's pretty tiresome to do it.

I understand some sort of powered usb hub (in your case with at least 5 usb sockets) would be what you need.

And also, what is the bitrate limit that was talked about on this page? Are there any other technical limitations (eg. resolution, etc) that prevent certain videos from being played? What are some recommended tools and applications for reencoding videos without any quality loss? Thanks in advance

check http://wdtv.wetpaint.com/

Has anyone be able to get any of the Movie Jukeboxes to run on the WD box? (ie ... YAMJ, Movie Flow, or My Lil Movie Jukebox)

Here's my latest demo of the My Lil Movie Jukbox for the Popcorn Hour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtPImwm5uYc

wow, that looks wonderful, i wish our wdtv did that!

You can output it, the question is can your amp/receiver decode it. Look at your receiver specs, does it say it decodes DTS?

My receiver don't even support DD5.1. :)

What is the cheapest way to get DTS sound?

My receiver don't even support DD5.1. :)

What is the cheapest way to get DTS sound?

Use the free popcorn hour utility to re-encode your DTS files to DD?

Has anyone be able to get any of the Movie Jukeboxes to run on the WD box? (ie ... YAMJ, Movie Flow, or My Lil Movie Jukebox)

Here's my latest demo of the My Lil Movie Jukbox for the Popcorn Hour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtPImwm5uYc

My exact question. Anyone know the answer? :D

Why use the WDTV at all if you want to play DVD/Blu-Ray discs? Why not just pop the discs in a DVD/Blu-Ray player?

:confused::confused::confused:

I can put the WD and HD in a bag and go. I can plug it into the TV where I am going or into the DVD player built into the car for the kids when driving. Speaking of kids, I keep the discs I care about away from them. I can also watch my movies without being held hostage by the FBI warning and previews.

There are lots of reasons not to use the original discs.

You can output it, the question is can your amp/receiver decode it. Look at your receiver specs, does it say it decodes DTS?

Gotta take care.
Even receivers labeled as DTS may not decode the audio, because a HD video file may have a DTS-HD audio. So DTS is one thing, and DTS-HD is another.

My Logitech Z5500 is a neat receiver, even THX certified. It decodes DTS but not of my HD videos with DTS-HD.

Gotta take care.
Even receivers labeled as DTS may not decode the audio, because a HD video file may have a DTS-HD audio. So DTS is one thing, and DTS-HD is another.

My Logitech Z5500 is a neat receiver, even THX certified. It decodes DTS but not of my HD videos with DTS-HD.



DTS HD has a DTS core which is backwards compatible... :)

only the WDTV doesnt handle all DTS cores from DTS HD the right way, it plays the sound fine but then crashes sometimes :(
(every X minutes....)

If you rip the core DTS, from a DTS-HD track by PC , everything is ok... which is a bit weird :/

For the umpteenth time: because ppl don't want to be DJs and they want their disks to be out of reach of their little kids.

I can put the WD and HD in a bag and go. I can plug it into the TV where I am going or into the DVD player built into the car for the kids when driving. Speaking of kids, I keep the discs I care about away from them. I can also watch my movies without being held hostage by the FBI warning and previews.

There are lots of reasons not to use the original discs.

Are you guys even reading the original post? In techflaw's case I already know he has comprehension problems.

He doesn't want to rip DVD/Blu-Ray to hard drive.

He wants to put a Blu-Ray drive in a USB enclosure.

He wants to connect this Blu-Ray drive in enclosure to WDTV.

He wants to play his original discs in this drive, in this enclosure.

Again, why do you need the WDTV in this case?

:confused:

You folks must be snoozing! There's another new firmware release, 1.02.06.:D

http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/


Info from the 1.02.06 Readme file

This is a prerelease version of the firmware. Feel free to install it but be aware this is beta firmware so use it at your own risk. If you are not comfortable with this, please wait for the final version.


Fixed items:

*Subtitle outline needs to be thicker

*Drives don't spin down when ejected in 1.02.03

*Thumbnails don't refresh to reflect changes until House is powercycled

*"Now Playing" screen doesn't show up

*2x Reverse goes very fast

Just thought I'd post this tip:
If you're like me and use the WD HD with only a projector, yet want to use it for music as well, here (http://www.buy.com/prod/sungale-14-1-digital-lcd-photo-frame-w-bluetooth-av-inputs-to-act-as-a/q/loc/111/206662315.html) is a hot deal for a photo frame to use as a monitor for when you want to only play music. Beats firing up the projector every time!
And I haven't seen a deal anywhere near as good as this for an LCD photo frame WITH AV inputs. Originally $279.99, now $139.99 and free shipping.

Bug #1 (maybe) - The All Video view is still not showing all videos when two or more HHDs are attached via a Hub.

Bug #2 - Folder view seems to occasionally miss a thubmnail. Just represents the video with the WDTV default jpg.

Bug #3 - Folder view shows that the Play button in the corner of the thumbnail, however, clicking play only gives me the "circle of red death". In order to play the video, I have to hit Enter, which then displays the single thumbnail of the video, and I again have to press Enter.

I'm going to test again with just a single HDD attached directly to the WDTV and no Hub to see if any of the above bugs still exist. It may just be the unsupported hub issue.

i have a video that is 1080p but was converted from mkv to mpeg-2 ts. video looks great but no audio. but if i burn the file ps3 plays the file fine. what do i need to do for it to work with the wdtv. looks like the audio is pcm.

Just thought I'd post this tip:
If you're like me and use the WD HD with only a projector, yet want to use it for music as well, here (http://www.buy.com/prod/sungale-14-1-digital-lcd-photo-frame-w-bluetooth-av-inputs-to-act-as-a/q/loc/111/206662315.html) is a hot deal for a photo frame to use as a monitor for when you want to only play music. Beats firing up the projector every time!
And I haven't seen a deal anywhere near as good as this for an LCD photo frame WITH AV inputs. Originally $279.99, now $139.99 and free shipping.

WOW that is cool and 1280x800 resolution is awesome Its a pitty it does not have components or hdmi input to actually push 720 content to it ! I would buy a couple to use in the camper and what not!

now can I come up with $140 before it vanishes :-) hehe

FORGET about doing a search on Amazon about those Blu-Rays
I have the DISCS !!

many blu-rays DO NOT have a regular English DD 5.1
I am amazed at how some people on this forum DON'T know the facts

Indiana Jones
Kung Fu Panda
Legend of Zorro
Transporter 3
Mummy series,
Legend of Zorro
Celine Dion

AND MANY MANY OTHERS

these discs and others DO NOT have a standard 5.1

I don't care what is says on AMAZON, how about what is says on the DISCS ?
Celine Dion does have a DD 5.1 track.

i just purchased the western digital tv hd media player i have it hooked via hdmi to my lcd hdtv and hooked up to my home theatre receiver via optical cable now the problem im having is when i try to play any mkv (x264) files with dts audio im getting out of sync issues my receiver has a built in dts decoder its showing up dts that it is infact detecting it but the video is ahead of the audio a slight bit i dont have any issues with ac3 or dd 5.1 only when i try playing dts any ideas? im running latest fw 1.01.02

i just purchased the western digital tv hd media player i have it hooked via hdmi to my lcd hdtv and hooked up to my home theatre receiver via optical cable now the problem im having is when i try to play any mkv (x264) files with dts audio im getting out of sync issues my receiver has a built in dts decoder its showing up dts that it is infact detecting it but the video is ahead of the audio a slight bit i dont have any issues with ac3 or dd 5.1 only when i try playing dts any ideas? im running latest fw 1.01.02

The lates fw(prerelease) is 1.02.06

i just purchased the western digital tv hd media player i have it hooked via hdmi to my lcd hdtv and hooked up to my home theatre receiver via optical cable now the problem im having is when i try to play any mkv (x264) files with dts audio im getting out of sync issues my receiver has a built in dts decoder its showing up dts that it is infact detecting it but the video is ahead of the audio a slight bit i dont have any issues with ac3 or dd 5.1 only when i try playing dts any ideas? im running latest fw 1.01.02

if you dont want to update to beta firmware (http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/)...which by the way is awesome compared to the firmware you have currently, the first thing I would recommend is to reset your AVR... by doing an actual system reset from the receivers menu...or by simply unplugging and reconnecting it... also, once it boots back up....while you are playing a movie with DTS audio...disconnect the toslink cable from the receiver input, and reconnect... if this doesnt work, then try using toslink cable from WDTV directly to AVR... one of these options should work! I had some audio sync issues many months ago when I first got my WDTV, and resetting AVR and disco/reconnecting cable synced it back up... but I do not run toslink from TV..


and last resort (really should be your first resort..lol)...and pretty much a guaranteed fix is to update firmware to newest pre-release (http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/)... it has much improved AUDIO playback, including video enhancements, and most importantly enhanced navigation and thumbnail support...


**Note** i do not run toslink from my TV...so i am NO expert in this subject by any means.. but from much reading I have done... MANY TVs do not have passthrough capabilities... and most will take HDMI sound and output via toslink at only 2 channel!! that will have a big effect on sync issues... I am not even sure if ANY tvs have actual DTS decoding capabilities??? I would highly suggest to any WDTV users who have any audio problems using the hdmi to tv/toslink to AVR connection.... invest a few dollars on a toslink switchbox so that you can hook up multiple toslink devices to your one connection on your AVR... I have two 4 port toslink switchboxes that I control with my harmony 1000 (whenever i choose an activity, the logitech automatically switches my TV,AVR,2 toslink switches, 2 hdmi switches for me....all i do is press one button..I love it!) they are not expensive...and would stop any problems you have...

Are you guys even reading the original post? In techflaw's case I already know he has comprehension problems.

He doesn't want to rip DVD/Blu-Ray to hard drive.

He wants to put a Blu-Ray drive in a USB enclosure.

He wants to connect this Blu-Ray drive in enclosure to WDTV.

He wants to play his original discs in this drive, in this enclosure.

Again, why do you need the WDTV in this case?

:confused:

WDTV cannot read from CSS encrypted original discs neither can the Popcorn or any other media player AFAIK...connecting external DVD enclosure is just for ppl who already have their (or someone else's :D) DVD collection on DVD-Rs which automatically means CSS was removed at the time of ripping...same goes for blurays...

so he really can't make use of any media player for his purpose....!!!!

Can anyone help me with getting album cover art showing on this thing. I tried creating an album folder named "x" and inside I put a .jpg named x.jpg, but it doesn't show the album art.

Here I am again trying to put some order in the chaos. :-) Actually, it's not so chaotic at the moment, but anyway ;)

Let's work together to put some structure in the WDTV discussion on this Forum:

-> bugs, findings and comments SPECIFIC to beta firmware 1.02.06 -> separate thread: WD HD TV -1.02.06 Prerelease (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1139874)

-> end-user questions (how to...) and discussion about the WDTV in general -> main thread *New* Western Digital - WD TV HD Media Player (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1080840) (you're in it)

-> long term feature requests and discussion about missing features (anything not announced in the 1.02 release notes) -> main bug thread: BUG LIST & FEATURE REQUEST thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1100499)

Thanks... from everyone ;)

Can anyone help me with getting album cover art showing on this thing. I tried creating an album folder named "x" and inside I put a .jpg named x.jpg, but it doesn't show the album art.

do a search for thumbnail....or just click back a few pages...it is described in great detail how to do it...about 100 times in last 100 pages..i normally answer repeated questions...but this one has been asked way to many times, that i am not going to answer what i answered 10 times in literally last 10 pages...just click back a page at a time and you will see pics of cover art on a members TV..

Ok thanks, I just found this thread and just thought 240 pages was a little overwhelming to read through.

Hi guys,

I am a newbie to WDTV. Have got my unit setup with the hacked firmware :)

Using Apple usb/ethernet to get network working.

Is it possible to watch videos etc on it from my tversity server?

Thankyou

Hi guys,

I am a newbie to WDTV. Have got my unit setup with the hacked firmware :)

Using Apple usb/ethernet to get network working.

Is it possible to watch videos etc on it from my tversity server?

Thankyou
maybee you should ask the maker of that firmware;)

maybee you should ask the maker of that firmware;)

Not sure if you are being sarcastic... but I thought the UPNP feature in the new hacked firmware should find tversity etc... but nothing is coming up for me... i used to use tversity for xbox360 previously...

Not sure if you are being sarcastic... but I thought the UPNP feature in the new hacked firmware should find tversity etc... but nothing is coming up for me... i used to use tversity for xbox360 previously...

try here > http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1100062

Personally, i have no idea what you're talking about!

Have you had the Celine Dion blu-ray in your hand? I had it and there is no DD 5.1 track; just TRUEHD and 2.0. ONLY 2 audio tracks

also, High Def Digest ACCURATELY lists the soundtracks; see below

Technical Specs

* Blu-ray
* BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc/BD-25 Single-Layer Disc
* Two-Disc Set

Video Resolution/Codec

* 1080p/VC-1

Aspect Ratio(s)

* 1.78:1

Audio Formats

* English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround (96kHz/24-bit)
* English PCM 2.0 Stereo (96kHz/24-bit)

Nevermind... I got it working, must have been an issue with my usb flash stick...

b-rad.cc/326/wdlxtv-app-pack-upnp-djmount
is the app I was referring to... put it into your usb stick and plug it in, and WDTV detects tversity server.... yipppeee

WDTV cannot read from CSS encrypted original discs neither can the Popcorn or any other media player AFAIK...connecting external DVD enclosure is just for ppl who already have their (or someone else's :D) DVD collection on DVD-Rs which automatically means CSS was removed at the time of ripping...same goes for blurays...

so he really can't make use of any media player for his purpose....!!!!

Thank you all. And by the way, BoboTheBear, my main purpose for asking the question is related to space, and to a lesser degree cost savings. I was hoping to put the media player next to a hard drive and enclosed Blu ray drive.

So again, although you may have just answered this, if I have ripped my own Blu ray disc, or have backups of my DVDs, will they play without me converting them to ISOs?

Not sure if you are being sarcastic... but I thought the UPNP feature in the new hacked firmware should find tversity etc... but nothing is coming up for me... i used to use tversity for xbox360 previously...
No, I was serious.
If you are able to find and use the hacked software, you could also find and ask the maker of it, I guessed.

Ok quick question how do assign a certain thumbnail to a folder. As in I have a folder called "HD Movies" now at the minute it displays the thumbnail of the first film in that folder so how do I change that. Do I make a thumbnail called folder.jpg or one called HD Movies.jpg?

Ok quick question how do assign a certain thumbnail to a folder. As in I have a folder called "HD Movies" now at the minute it displays the thumbnail of the first film in that folder so how do I change that. Do I make a thumbnail called folder.jpg or one called HD Movies.jpg?

For folder with any name, the thumbnail must be named folder.jpg not the name of the folder;)

Have you had the Celine Dion blu-ray in your hand? I had it and there is no DD 5.1 track; just TRUEHD and 2.0. ONLY 2 audio tracks

also, High Def Digest ACCURATELY lists the soundtracks; see below

Technical Specs

* Blu-ray
* BD-50 Dual-Layer Disc/BD-25 Single-Layer Disc
* Two-Disc Set

Video Resolution/Codec

* 1080p/VC-1

Aspect Ratio(s)

* 1.78:1

Audio Formats

* English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround (96kHz/24-bit)
* English PCM 2.0 Stereo (96kHz/24-bit)

you must understand the logic behind dolby trueHD and dts master.. i dont care what you have read, or what you think...but the bottom line is you are not going to see the dolby 5.1 and the dts tracks listed at your bluray review webpages! what you need to understand (seriously...all of you arguing this point, get it thru your heads) is that where there is dolby trueHD and dts masters... there is a non-HD core...a regular dd5.1 and regular dts. I have argued back and forth....but there is NO arguing... I gave the links to the Dolby Digital webpage where they described the core+extensions= HD audio! the same for DTS webpage..where they literally spelled it out exactly like this.. "DTS core + extensions (adding higher bitrate tracks and more surround tracks)= DTS master. it is described in black and white on their webpages! so dont try to change my mind by describing what you think, or how you think it works....go to the creators of these HD audios and tell them that they are wrong;)

the problem is that the decoding software you use to rip your blurays is not capable of reading the seperate core tracks and extensions... that DOES NOT mean that the cores are not there..it means you need to change your bluray encoding software to one that CAN read the tracks seperately!

there is another member who is convinced that the core tracks are one regular dd5.1 or dts track... and that the trueHD and dts masters are ANOTHER completely seperate tracks....this member and anybody else who thinks this needs to think like the bluray creators....its ALL about being smart and saving room!!!! for example (not actual sizes, just to explain logic) why would they create a 2GB dts core track.... and then create a seperate dts master that includes the 2GB core+4GBs of added bitrate and multiple channel audio?? do you think they would add that 2GB core 2 times to a disk when they could add it just once???they use the 2GB core to play regular dts, and then to play dts master, they take the same 2gb core+4gbs for a total of 6GB on disk...instead of 8GB... make sense?? here is an example i just pulled up on a quick google search... read the AUDIO description (http://www.bigpicturebigsound.com/behind-enemy-lines-blu-ray-1095.shtml)... also notice the bluray disc description! states ONLY a DTS MASTER track!

I have played the Celine Dion Blu-Ray and others on my Blu-Ray Player; forget the WDTV player. and it only has 2 Audio Streams; TRUEHD and 2.0 stereo
that was my point. find me someone who has played this Blu-Ray on their player and seen more than these 2 audio streams; there are many other blu-rays with this same issue; only having an uncompressed 5.1 track and a 2.0 or foreign language track if it was a movie. Bottom line, the Celine Dion Blu-ray has no regular dd 5.1

Is there any way to show thumbnails for each hard drive (USB1 and USB2)? I tried a Folder.jpg in the root directory of one hard drive and it didn't show. Not big deal, but we have a kids' HD and and adults' HD.

Is there any way to show thumbnails for each hard drive (USB1 and USB2)? I tried a Folder.jpg in the root directory of one hard drive and it didn't show. Not big deal, but we have a kids' HD and and adults' HD.

Dunno if this works, but you can try it.
Create a folder on the first drive(USB1)named K (KIDS) and put there the specific folder.jpg.
On the second drive(USB2) create a folder named A (adult) and put there also a specific folder.jpg .
Hopefully it works

Officially BLURAY needs at least a CORE DTS or secret Dolby 5.1 track or PCM!!


Sopranos season 6 only got a PCM 5.1 track...
which goes 2.0 over toslink.


-DTS HD got DTS core INSIDE the HD track.

-Dolby TrueHD doesnt!!! have a CORE track inside the TRUEHD.

Its true theres a secret "normal" Dolby 5.1 track for blurays.
(this was a option for HD-DVD) but officially needed for bluray because not all bluray players are able to decode a TrueHD to "normal"
dolby 5.1 track)

Anyway, this is all officially ...

-If theres "only" a DTS-HD track , theres always the DTS-core

-And with TrueHD there should be a secret dolby 5.1 track

-Sopranos season6, only PCM 7/5.1, but over toslink 2.0.


So, yes they could make a bluray with TrueHD and NO secret Dolby 5.1 track, but with a extra 5.1 or even 2.0 PCM track (which is really nice 2.0 btw :) )
And indeed theres alot of "stupid" software that doesnt see the "secret" dolby 5.1 track :(

Is there any way to show thumbnails for each hard drive (USB1 and USB2)? I tried a Folder.jpg in the root directory of one hard drive and it didn't show. Not big deal, but we have a kids' HD and and adults' HD.

i have bad news:( and good news:)

bad news- there is no USB1 or USB2 thumbnail support at this time....and when you have a drive hooked up to usb1 or 2, you dont even see your drive...as soon as you select usb 1 or 2, you are taken to the drives root...so if your kids are using this, they will not be able to know which drive has their stuff, and which one has your movies?

good news- if you use a USB hub, your drives show up with name, and support thumbs!! because when you use a hub, the hard drives show up as folders instead of usb1,2,etc..

so in the kids drive...name the drive KIDS_MOVIES or whatever you want....and place whatever jpg you want in it as folder.jpg then do the same for your adult drive... hook both of them up to port 1 using a USB hub, then fo to folder view...then select USB1...after that you will see both your drives named KIDS_MOVIES and ADULT_MOVIES, and both of them will show their thumbnail:) hub works better on port 1..

Unfortunately this will only work with a USB hub... and of course you have to have one of the new beta firmwares that support thumbs, and you must have thumbnail view on... but you can have exactly what you want...just need to use a hub...i personally use the hub that came with my xbox 360 rockband! good luck and let me know if you have any questions..

Unfortunately this will only work with a USB hub... and of course you have to have one of the new beta firmwares that support thumbs, and you must have thumbnail view on... but you can have exactly what you want...just need to use a hub...i personally use the hub that came with my xbox 360 rockband! good luck and let me know if you have any questions..
You don't need usb hub or more Hard Drives to use this feature. You just need to have more than one partition on the disk you are connecting. Names of partitions are showed just like DanDaMan069 is saying about drives.

As DanDaMan069 has explained the "regular" DD track is "interwoven" into the TrueHD track.

This can easily be extracted using Eac3to or TsMuxer.

I have played the Celine Dion Blu-Ray and others on my Blu-Ray Player; forget the WDTV player. and it only has 2 Audio Streams; TRUEHD and 2.0 stereo
that was my point. find me someone who has played this Blu-Ray on their player and seen more than these 2 audio streams; there are many other blu-rays with this same issue; only having an uncompressed 5.1 track and a 2.0 or foreign language track if it was a movie. Bottom line, the Celine Dion Blu-ray has no regular dd 5.1

I have a question, since right now WD TV doesn't support Vorbis in MKV and some of my MKVs have Vorbis track, is it possible to convert Vorbis track to MP3/AC3 or other audio codecs that WD TV supports?

As DanDaMan069 has explained the "regular" DD track is "interwoven" into the TrueHD track.

This can easily be extracted using Eac3to or TsMuxer.

-Not entirely TRUE :), DD isnt interwoven like a DTS core, its just seperate on the disc somewhere...

AND TrueHD doesnt mean there also a DD track somewhere (for 90% yes, but not always) ;)

there has to be at least a Normal DTS track, DD, or PCM (at least 2.0)

So if theres a TrueHD track there also could be a normal DTS track (not likely) or a 2.0 or 5.1 (which goes 2.0 over toslink) PCM track instead of the "normal","secret" Dolby 5.1 track.

I have a question, since right now WD TV doesn't support Vorbis in MKV and some of my MKVs have Vorbis track, is it possible to convert Vorbis track to MP3/AC3 or other audio codecs that WD TV supports?

Of course. But converting one lossy format to another inevitably means a loss of quality.

Of course. But converting one lossy format to another inevitably means a loss of quality.

OTOH, if we're talking about director's commentary (or scholar's commentary) it's a guy talking, there's not much to loose :D

Ok, i've just tested videos shot with the Toshiba Camileo P10 HD camera, directly connected to out little wdtv and the mov files it produces can be seen in all it's glory (720p and 1080p). He did not have any SD videos to test. :)

-Not TRUE, DD isnt interwoven like a DTS core, its just seperate on the disc somewhere..
There are two possibilities on Blu-ray.

1. The DD packets can be interleaved with the TrueHD packets within the same track (although the DD packets are not really "core" since TrueHD never has a "core"). Technically they have the same stream PID, so the player should automatically use either the TrueHD packets or the DD packets (depending on the capabilities of the decoder), i.e., the user does not manually choose one or the other.

or

2. The DD packets can be in their own track that is separate from the TrueHD track. Technically they do not have the same stream PID, so the user can manually choose one or the other. This is what some BD discs from Warner have, since their audio encoders did not use interleaving.

Ok , i prefer option 2 :)

or there is no DD at all.. (if theres a TrueHD track) :P


Like:

-TrueHD + "normal" DTS (or even DTS-HD , with the core DTS)

-TrueHD + PCM 2.0

-TrueHD + PCM 5.1

Most of the time when theres a TrueHD track they choose for a "normal" Dolby 5.1 track. ("seperate", well "non-CORE" :)) But not Necessary.

Ok , i prefer option 2 :)

or there is no DD at all.. (if theres a TrueHD track) :P
Option #1 has DD as well, obviously. This is what many Blu-ray discs have, and all Blu-ray players support it.

i have the latest firmware for the box installed and I have a quite a few mkv films/docus its handles most well some I find do freeze and restart which ive checked back to a pc programme called vlc which seems to play fine so maybe the latest firmware has some bugs , if anyone else has this issue please let me know.

cheers blurayboy

i have the latest firmware for the box installed and I have a quite a few mkv films/docus its handles most well some I find do freeze and restart which ive checked back to a pc programme called vlc which seems to play fine so maybe the latest firmware has some bugs , if anyone else has this issue please let me know.

cheers blurayboy

take a look here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16296243#post16296243) ... you are not alone:( lol

Question: Does the WDTV handle variable frame rate media well?

i have bad news:( and good news:)

bad news- there is no USB1 or USB2 thumbnail support at this time....and when you have a drive hooked up to usb1 or 2, you dont even see your drive...as soon as you select usb 1 or 2, you are taken to the drives root...so if your kids are using this, they will not be able to know which drive has their stuff, and which one has your movies?

good news- if you use a USB hub, your drives show up with name, and support thumbs!! because when you use a hub, the hard drives show up as folders instead of usb1,2,etc..

so in the kids drive...name the drive KIDS_MOVIES or whatever you want....and place whatever jpg you want in it as folder.jpg then do the same for your adult drive... hook both of them up to port 1 using a USB hub, then fo to folder view...then select USB1...after that you will see both your drives named KIDS_MOVIES and ADULT_MOVIES, and both of them will show their thumbnail:) hub works better on port 1..

Unfortunately this will only work with a USB hub... and of course you have to have one of the new beta firmwares that support thumbs, and you must have thumbnail view on... but you can have exactly what you want...just need to use a hub...i personally use the hub that came with my xbox 360 rockband! good luck and let me know if you have any questions..

Great idea! I've been meaning to get a hub anyway. Thanks!

You can also use PCH audioconverter to change DTS to AC3. Takes about 10 minutes for me. Here's the tutorial (http://audioconverter.heartware.dk/Tutorial/).

finally got around to trying this heartware audioconverter myself (didn't have any DTS files until recently)...I must admit that resulting AC3 audio file (448 bitrate) does not sound impressive at all...volume is substantially lower and the dynamic range seems awfully compressed by comparison to the original DTS track...NOTE: I should mention that I have only listened to downconverted versions on PC for both thus far, but difference is large enough that I'm not optimistic that it will sound any better through 6ch decoder in my AV.

Any comments from the people that have used this more frequently (because there were a lot of recommendations) ?? ...anything in the settings within the toolset it uses maybe ??

let me know if you need mediainfo for either...thanks moo

EDIT: ...is it possible that it has more to do with playback and not the re-encoding ? ...stumbled onto some low volume web references talking about default AC3filter settings being low. btw...I was using VLC for playback.

Doesn't surprise me at all. The loss of quality should be expected when you convert from one lossy format (DTS) to another (Dolby Digital AC3). And AC3 at 448Kbps does not sound 'impressive' to begin with, even if it is the original stream. Still good enough for most scenarios though.

People, i dont want leave my passport receiving energy 24/7 so i decided to disconect the power cable from wdtv after use it.

Should I "eject" the passport before turn off the power cable, or may i just turn off wdtv by remote control and disconect the power cable without do the "eject" ?

People, i dont want leave my passport receiving energy 24/7 so i decided to disconect the power cable from wdtv after use it.

Should I "eject" the passport before turn off the power cable, or may i just turn off wdtv by remote control and disconect the power cable without do the "eject" ?
Eject seems better

People, i dont want leave my passport receiving energy 24/7 so i decided to disconect the power cable from wdtv after use it.

Should I "eject" the passport before turn off the power cable, or may i just turn off wdtv by remote control and disconect the power cable without do the "eject" ?

specific person, have you not taken a single moment of your time to read the 1000 posts regarding the exact question you want advice on???

to save you precious time, i will enlighten you... it is recommended by WD to eject before disconnecting drives...if you are going to power it off, that falls into the "disconnecting" category... would anything happen if you didnt eject?? probably not?? but there is always that 1 in 10,000 chance that it takes to lose it all...and apparently it is recommended for a reason. so you can take your chances on your precious files..or you can take the extra 5 seconds and eject your drive..

"Doesn't surprise me at all." surprises me. It takes an awful lot of compression to hear ANY degradation in audio (or a really horrifying conversion) on anything but VERY high end equipment and one with very good ears.

For example I CAN hear the quality loss in 128kbps mp3 compared to CD (massive loss in some songs)

at 192kbps its VERY difficult for me to hear the difference (50/50 sometimes) at 256kbps or higher its impossible for me to hear the difference in all but the very rarest of examples and I have very good ears.

You should NOT hear such a dramatic difference going from DTS to AC3 (again unless you have VERY nice equipment and good ears) and even with those the difference should not be THAT large so I am surprised in the opposite direction.

Audio especially high quality audio is surprisingly resistant to degradation when converted unless its a real hack job.

so I would first suspect you got a crap conversion or the settings were wrong.

I use this thing in a few different rooms but I'm encountering some issues on a 15inch hdtv (doesn't have hdmi). Since this doesn't have component out i'm forced to use the composite hook up. I'm having problems playing files with dts audio. Does the WDTV not have the ability to downconvert?

I want to say kudos to WD for these frequent pre-release firmware updates of late. This is what should have been done while we were waiting more than 3 months.

Of course, each new FW release introduces its own set of bugs and peculiarities, but it fixes others.

Now there are several FW's floating around out there and people can choose the version that best suits their needs.

This is what WD needs to focus on. Giving the users the maximum amount of choice.

Some people may prefer 1.02.03, others 1.02.04. Still others will find 1.02.06 works best for them. If they find out the latest pre-release introduces more bugs than it fixes, people can always opt to roll back to an earlier release.

The more FW choices, the merrier.

"Doesn't surprise me at all." surprises me. It takes an awful lot of compression to hear ANY degradation in audio (or a really horrifying conversion) on anything but VERY high end equipment and one with very good ears.

For example I CAN hear the quality loss in 128kbps mp3 compared to CD (massive loss in some songs)

at 192kbps its VERY difficult for me to hear the difference (50/50 sometimes) at 256kbps or higher its impossible for me to hear the difference in all but the very rarest of examples and I have very good ears.

You should NOT hear such a dramatic difference going from DTS to AC3 (again unless you have VERY nice equipment and good ears) and even with those the difference should not be THAT large so I am surprised in the opposite direction.

Audio especially high quality audio is surprisingly resistant to degradation when converted unless its a real hack job.

so I would first suspect you got a crap conversion or the settings were wrong.

No, it really doesn't, and you seem to have missed the point. This is not about the efficiency of lossy compression algorithms like .mp3, I am fully aware that .mp3 can achieve transparency at (variable) bitrates over 200Kbps for stereo material.

However, converting a lossy source to another one will have audible consequences. Sticking to your .mp3 example, it's like converting a 192Kbps .mp3 file to 128Kbps .wma. So unless you are half-deaf, you will hear the quality difference, compression artifacts and considerably smaller dynamic range in particular, exactly what moolala described. And you definitely don't need a high-end setup for that either.

Converting lossy streams to a different lossy format should only be a last resort, and avoided if possible. Even the best encoders can't do magic.

I have a question, since right now WD TV doesn't support Vorbis in MKV and some of my MKVs have Vorbis track, is it possible to convert Vorbis track to MP3/AC3 or other audio codecs that WD TV supports?

Like the other poster said, you will degrade the quality by going from one lossy codec to another.

Doesn't the WD TV do FLAC inside an .mkv container in the more recent FW pre-releases? I seem to recall this feature being added recently.

If so, you could just decode your Ogg Vorbis to WAV, and then compress with FLAC, and then mux the FLAC audio back into the MKV container.

You should not lose any sound quality this way, provided there are no errors in the decoding, since FLAC is lossless.

Of course, going from highly compressed Ogg to lossless FLAC will increase the audio filesize significantly, but you should end up with the same quality and the WD should be able to play it.

1.02.06 still has subtitles on by default :rolleyes: and still no turning off attached disks in standby, not too much to ask, is it? Surely a basic feature of standby?

Anyone looking for a cheap ext drive to use with this, I just picked this up from Staples:

WD My Book Essential Edition 750GB 2.0 External Hard Drive - $54.99 AC FS!!!!
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1304721

I'm thinking of maybe picking up a second drive

... i'm forced to use the composite hook up. I'm having problems playing files with dts audio. Does the WDTV not have the ability to downconvert?

No.
You may want to do some basic research on the equipment (WDTV) you're using: http://wdtv.wetpaint.com/

i just purchased the western digital tv hd media player i have it hooked via hdmi to my lcd hdtv and hooked up to my home theatre receiver via optical cable now the problem im having is when i try to play any mkv (x264) files with dts audio im getting out of sync issues my receiver has a built in dts decoder its showing up dts that it is infact detecting it but the video is ahead of the audio a slight bit i dont have any issues with ac3 or dd 5.1 only when i try playing dts any ideas? im running latest fw 1.02.06 like i said any ac3 5.1 play beautifully im wondering if i was to convert my movies that are dts to ac3 am i going to take a huge audio quality hit? is it a noticable difference

specific person, have you not taken a single moment of your time to read the 1000 posts regarding the exact question you want advice on???

to save you precious time, i will enlighten you... it is recommended by WD to eject before disconnecting drives...if you are going to power it off, that falls into the "disconnecting" category... would anything happen if you didnt eject?? probably not?? but there is always that 1 in 10,000 chance that it takes to lose it all...and apparently it is recommended for a reason. so you can take your chances on your precious files..or you can take the extra 5 seconds and eject your drive..

Ty Man, i really tried to search about it, but i found so many different opinions about it that i still have doubts.

I agree with you and probably i´m gonna start do the "eject" before power it off since there is a chance files been corrupted without this action.

The point is, doing the eject, we are not talking only about extra 5 seconds. Every time I ejected the drive, wdtv will gonna do the "scan" (5/10 minutes) the next time i turn it on. If i just disconnect, the scan will not run the next time i turn it on, so i save this 5/10 minutes.

Ty Man, i really tried to search about it, but i found so many different opinions about it that i still have doubts.

I agree with you and probably i´m gonna start do the "eject" before power it off since there is a chance files been corrupted without this action.

The point is, doing the eject, we are not talking only about extra 5 seconds. Every time I ejected the drive, wdtv will gonna do the "scan" (5/10 minutes) the next time i turn it on. If i just disconnect, the scan will not run the next time i turn it on, so i save this 5/10 minutes.

Are you unning the 1.02.06 firmware?
Detecting the drives should be a lot faster.
In my case from 7 to 2 minutes.
Dunno why others talk about seconds to detect their drives.

2 to 7 minutes even with Media Library on??

2 to 7 minutes even with Media Library on??Yep

I have 2 X 320GB drives a Seagate Go & a WD Passbook & they are both up & ready in about a minute.. :confused:

I disagree. its a semantic issue the way you word it.

will there be a quality loss going from lossy to lossy? YES. will it be AUDIBLE ? done right most of the time NO.

if you convert 192kbps mp3 to 192kbps wma you will be HARD PRESSED to hear the difference. I would be a weeks pay that if I did a blind test on you after converting a CD to 192kb mp3 and then converted that mp3 to 192kb wma you COULD NOT reliably tell the difference over multiple tries beyond that of random selection.

In fact I bet I could convert is 2 3 maybe even 4 times before there was a reliable audible difference that you could definitively nail down beyond random chance.

The human brain is just surprisingly good with audio.

You can claim otherwise all you want. You can claim you can hear it all you want (so far everyone I have tested and every other story I read of someone being tested they failed 100% of the time to live up to there claims except when they got to RIG the results such as you saying convert 192mp3 to 128wma, almost ANYONE can hear the loss in a 128kbps file. Thats like comparing a photocopy to a FAX.

even 192 is not all reliable since I can sometimes hear the difference. once you go above 192. forget it. and files above 192 can survive MULTIPLE conversions before there is REAL audible loss.

now if you reduce channels clearly your going to hear the loss of those channels.

What kind of USB hub are you using? post link?

If you seriously don't hear the difference after numerous conversion processes, lossy formats that is, you may have to consult your otologist. Or invest in your AV gear for that matter. Nothing more to add.

I think I have to format my drive with larger clusters, for fast scanning

Bought this product finally ...

Awesome is the word !!! for 107 bucks u cant get anything close to this !

I have few queries , hope the pros can help me out :

1)In few movies there is a black bar appearing at the top and bottom of the screen , in few it doesn't come at all .. How do i solve it ?( i was doing ctrl enter in pc before :P )

2)i have Mr.bean (width 648 height 448) however it is coming in center of the screen , not covering the left and the right fully ... How do i correct it ?

3)Is there a way to enable subtitles by default when i play movie ? (instead of going to options and enabling it ? , Spoiled by choice :P )

4) Those who are converting the audio using pop corn converter , is there any option to remove extra audio tracks subtitles or split the movie (like in MKVtoolnix)

5)Can i buy and connect a USB 2.0 Hub and use the same 2 devices ( would prefer to keep the Player inside the showcase )

Cheers ! (TIA !!!)

"Nothing more to add."

That's right. you added absolutely nothing. Good job.

I will repeat. EVERY SINGLE "audiophile" I have tested and or HEARD of being tested has FAILED 100% of the time to live up to their claims in a controlled environment.

100%

not 10% not 50% not 80% not 99%

100% failure every single time.

If your ever near 19057 PA or 08215 NJ

bring a CD I will rip and convert it RIGHT in front of you and test you.

I am 100% confident you can NOT tell the difference beyond random chance.

is it advisable to go lossy to lossy? NO. if you need to though and you only do it once you will NEVER have a problem if you use a quality conversion 99% of the time.

This is especially not a problem if you have the original so you can always GO BACK to the original to make another conversion.

Listen, it's not like you found the holy grail or something, double-blind tests are a common and well known practice to reliably determine any audible loss of quality of compression algorithms, and unless your 'audiophile friends' are 70 years old, they will hear the difference after numerous lossy conversions. Or they are not audiophiles at all.

You can be as confident as you like, there is a ton of reliable material about this on the net. And I'm not talking about snakeoil garbage. Do me a favour, go over to hydrogenaudio.org, a well-known and respected website / forum specialised on audio compression, and post your claim there. I guarantee you that you won't find anyone there supporting your claim.

Seriously, this isn't even worth discussing, and it really is not up to me to change your mind on this. Believe what you want.

How much audio quality would i be losing using the pch audioconverter and remuxing the dts audio track to 6ch ac3 for my mkvs would i notice a huge difference?

I have 2 X 320GB drives a Seagate Go & a WD Passbook & they are both up & ready in about a minute.. :confused:

same here;) i eject my drives everytime, and when i power them back on...the WDTV starts to scan them within 10 seconds of power on..and is done scanning and ready to play a 1TB drive full of movies in 15-20 seconds.. when i have 3 drives hooked up to my usb hub...like my usual setup.. it is THREE 1 TB drives that i power up with a powerstrip...and the WDTV will scan all 3 drives and be ready to play in about 2 minutes..that is recognize and scan times for all 3TBs! under 2 minutes! i dont know why some people take so long, and others are very fast?? definately has to do with firmware (even though i have never had a slow scan problem), the new firmware is much quicker.. but probably biggest factor has to be your hard drives! i have 3 WD and 1 seagate....all are really fast.


for people having DTS issues, ie not in sync, or still having stutter... back when i was doing lots of testing on DTS, and shizzon was doing video testing... we pretty much agreed on the issue lying ON YOUR AVR.. I had a 1-2% DTS stutter or sync issue with all firmwares.. in other words, out of 100 MKVS with DTS, I would only have 1 or 2 films that had an issue... And since 1.02.04 there has been a 100% success rate with all my movies with DTS..ad I have probably 250+ MKVs with DTS, and every single one works perfect! I NEVER experienced sync issues with DTS, only with AAC..and that was corrected simply by resetting my AVR system, and disco/reconnecting my toslink cable..never had a problem since.. but with DTS, the only issue I ever experienced with a few films was a stutter of a spit second about 1 or 2 times during the movie..nothing more than that. ..with any firmware.. but as i mentioned.. this has totally been fixed with 1.02.04 or higher.. The WDTV is doing nothing but passing thru the DTS stream to your AVR, and your AVR is decoding it...so if you are having DTS audio sync issues... I recommend resetting your AVR, disco/reconnecting your toslink cable...and even mess with the stream delay options (if your AVR has those settings of course) mine does not, and i have never had to do this, but i know some do have this feature..

i have a bose lifestyle 48, and I have NO problems with ANY DTS playback on MKV movies..at 720p or 1080p (higher audio bitrates)...if anybody can upload a short clip of the file you are having sync issues with, i will gladly try it on my system..

How much audio quality would i be losing using the pch audioconverter and remuxing the dts audio track to 6ch ac3 for my mkvs would i notice a huge difference?

i will put it to you this way...if you are thinking about converting dts to ac3.. it is because you will be playing the movie with current DTS, on your tv using the speakers if the tv, or maybe an old old avr, or something to that effect.. correct?? so if you are going to take a great sounding DTS to ac3 so you can play it on your tv speakers...why do you care about how it will sound?? do you have any other option? you can convert it to 2 channel mp3...if you are going to use your tv speakers.. best chance is to just convert from dts to ac3 and see how it sounds to you! not worth listening to other comments, becuase you dont know if they are playing the converted AC3 file on a 15" lcd with tiny speakers...or computer speakers, or even an old avr... when it comes to people converting dts-ac3...it comes down to needs...you need to convert in order to hear the audio... knowing good and well what the audio was when you got the file:) beggers cant be choosers:) or maybe they can..but your choices are limited:(

Listen, it's not like you found the holy grail or something, double-blind tests are a common and well known practice to reliably determine any audible loss of quality of compression algorithms, and unless your 'audiophile friends' are 70 years old, they will hear the difference after numerous lossy conversions. Or they are not audiophiles at all.

You can be as confident as you like, there is a ton of reliable material about this on the net. And I'm not talking about snakeoil garbage. Do me a favour, go over to hydrogenaudio.org, a well-known and respected website / forum specialised on audio compression, and post your claim there. I guarantee you that you won't find anyone there supporting your claim.

Seriously, this isn't even worth discussing, and it really is not up to me to change your mind on this. Believe what you want.

You guys are not listening to each other. You are saying muliple lossy conversions, he is saying one lossy conversion maybe two. If both of you listened to what the other is saying, you would probably agree.

Use the free popcorn hour utility to re-encode your DTS files to DD?

I meant, without doing software to reencode.. :)

Can i get a cheap (but good) DTS receiver?

i will put it to you this way...if you are thinking about converting dts to ac3.. it is because you will be playing the movie with current DTS, on your tv using the speakers if the tv, or maybe an old old avr, or something to that effect.. correct?? so if you are going to take a great sounding DTS to ac3 so you can play it on your tv speakers...why do you care about how it will sound?? do you have any other option? you can convert it to 2 channel mp3...if you are going to use your tv speakers.. best chance is to just convert from dts to ac3 and see how it sounds to you! not worth listening to other comments, becuase you dont know if they are playing the converted AC3 file on a 15" lcd with tiny speakers...or computer speakers, or even an old avr... when it comes to people converting dts-ac3...it comes down to needs...you need to convert in order to hear the audio... knowing good and well what the audio was when you got the file:) beggers cant be choosers:) or maybe they can..but your choices are limited:(

Yah like he said, just go ahead and try it, I mean its not some 6 hours process, my pc takes 15 minutes, I hear some take up to an hour. Either way give it a shot, like stated above, you should only be doing it if you have to so you really dont have a choice.

i will put it to you this way...if you are thinking about converting dts to ac3.. it is because you will be playing the movie with current DTS, on your tv using the speakers if the tv, or maybe an old old avr, or something to that effect.. correct?? so if you are going to take a great sounding DTS to ac3 so you can play it on your tv speakers...why do you care about how it will sound?? do you have any other option? you can convert it to 2 channel mp3...if you are going to use your tv speakers.. best chance is to just convert from dts to ac3 and see how it sounds to you! not worth listening to other comments, becuase you dont know if they are playing the converted AC3 file on a 15" lcd with tiny speakers...or computer speakers, or even an old avr... when it comes to people converting dts-ac3...it comes down to needs...you need to convert in order to hear the audio... knowing good and well what the audio was when you got the file:) beggers cant be choosers:) or maybe they can..but your choices are limited:(
Some people is converting DTS to AC3 to listen to it sometimes on a good DTS decoder and sometimes on the regular tv speakers, I have 2 WDTV and one of them is not attached to a DTS decoder, so if I want to hear anything on my bedroom I have to convert to AC3. As I don't have the space to keep all the tracks for all my movies both in DTS and AC3 Im just keeping AC3 640 and Im loosing some quality compared to the DTS, but only on the living room, on the bedroom, Im gaining 100% of the sound, couse otherwise I would have none.
I just hope WD provides us with DTS downmix so I can remux my movies with the DTS track....

Oh no I am reading him. He just keeps "altering" the terms and condition so that he can claim he is right.

you see first its any lossy conversion.
Then its 192 to 128 a clearly biased conversion

now its not multiple but NUMEROUS conversions.

I don't care if you start with RAW audio wide open if you compress it to 320kbps and back again NUMEROUS times your going to hear artifacts.

like I already stated. when you "stack" the deck and intentionally fabricated biased conditions OFF COURSE your going to come off looking like your right every time. at least to yourself.

In the end though for what really matters your still wrong. dead wrong.

again 19057 or 08215 bring your own CD's if you want (make sure there originals)

I will test you. You will fail. every time. I will compress a song to 192kbps mp3 and then convert that mp3 to 192kbps wma

I will create a playlist of those 2 songs randomly 100 times and you will create a list of which song plays when.

I assure you that you will make mistakes. many of them. why? because it will be nearly impossible for you to definitively say YES that song is wma from mp3 and yes THAT song is the mp3 it sounds better.